


Of Gods and Monsters

by Ikuna



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Bill Denbrough is a Good Friend, Bisexual Richie Tozier, Fluff and Angst, Gay Eddie Kaspbrak, M/M, Mutual Pining, Oblivious Eddie Kaspbrak, Oblivious Richie Tozier, Pennywise is here but he's a mythological monster instead, Percy Jackson AU, Richie Tozier Loves Eddie Kaspbrak, Slow Burn, Sonia Kaspbrak's A+ Parenting, gods will make their appearance but that'd be spoilers if i tag them, loosely based on the PJO series, no beta we die like men, no one from PJO will be here sorry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-25
Updated: 2020-05-08
Packaged: 2020-10-27 23:05:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 87,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20768420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ikuna/pseuds/Ikuna
Summary: “You’re no fun. Why does Mr. P want to talk to us, anyways?” He asked as they made their way to the main cabin, where Mr. P’s office was located.Bev looked at him for a moment, not saying anything, but considering. Richie hated that look. It meant she knew something that he didn’t (which was admittedly often). Richie rolled his eyes, shoving at her shoulder with her own, “c’mon, Marsh! Let me in on the secret.” Bev bites her lip, looking thoughtful.“I… might have had a vision,” Richie would never admit out loud that he was jealous of her cool powers, but it was hard not to be when all he inherited from his dad was quick wit and sticky fingers. At least his dad gave him cool shoes?“And?”“And-” She sighs, giving him a look and leaning in closer. “It’s a quest-” she whispers. Richie recoils as if she had just bitten him.“A quest?!” He shouts, attracting the attention of other wandering half bloods.





	1. Chapter 1

“Hey, loser!” a voice from below him says not unfondly, startling him out of his afternoon nap, he almost falls from the branch he’d been lounging in, about 25 feet off the ground. He blinks the sleep from his eyes, rubbing at them from behind his thick rimmed glasses, before he peers down. At the bottom of the tree stands a young woman, about Richie’s own age, pretty strawberry blond hair almost glowing in the light of the setting sun. She has a hand up, shielding her bright green eyes from golden rays as she stares up the tree to where Richie lounged. Beverly Marsh. One of the few people he actually liked at camp. 

“What’s up? Besides me, of course.” He yells back down with a grin. He can see her shakes her head, her red curls bouncing as she does.

“C’mon, Tozier. Mr. P says he wants to talk to us.” 

“Mr. P?” He mumbled to himself, what could that old man want with him and Bev? The only thing he ever spoke to Richie about, was when he did something wrong- and this time it was definitely nothing! Well, he may have put a hair dying potion into the Aphrodite’s cabins shampoo, but it was totally worth it to see Greta Keene with muddy green hair (she got so angry that her face had turned as red as a pomegranate!).

“Yup.” Bev replied, popping the ‘p’ at the end. 

“Alright, I’m comin’.” With that he slid off the tree. As he sailed down to the bottom, he tapped the heels of his beat up black chucks that his dad had given him for his 13th birthday- oh yeah, maybe he should’ve mentioned that his father was actually Hermes, the Greek God of thieves, travelers, sports, as well as being the guide to the underworld. It was pretty cool (even if he hadn’t seen said father in 3 years, Richie didn’t like to complain, other kids had it worse, at least he wasn’t an offspring of Aries- _ ick.) _. 

Tiny white wings sprouted from his shoes, flapping as fast as they could at Richie’s command, he grinned as he slowed down, landing gracefully in front of Bev who was suppressing a smile, arms crossed. She shook her head and rolled her eyes at him.

“You’re such a show off.” She turned on her heel, and Richie followed, leading them out of the forest and into camp. 

“Well what can I say? I have a lot to show off, Bev. You should see my-” 

“Beep beep, Richie.” Bev said with a lighthearted glare and a smile she didn’t manage to conceal. Richie held his hands up with mock defeat, he knew not to push his limits with Bev, she was terrifying when she was mad (and thankfully she had never been truly mad at him, and he’d like to keep it that way.)

“You’re no fun. Why does Mr. P want to talk to us, anyways?” He asked as they made their way to the main cabin, where Mr. P’s office was located. The sun was setting and the camp was bustling with energy. It was the last day of summer, and the last of the summer only kids were leaving after dinner. Richie was a year around, and had been for a long time- Bev, too. It’s partially why they’re so close.

Bev looked at him for a moment, not saying anything, but considering. Richie hated that look. It meant she knew something that he didn’t (which was admittedly often). Richie rolled his eyes, shoving at her shoulder with her own, “c’mon, Marsh! Let me in on the secret.” Bev bites her lip, looking thoughtful.

“I… might have had a vision,” Richie would never admit out loud that he was jealous of her cool powers, but it was hard not to be when all he inherited from his dad was quick wit and sticky fingers. At least his dad gave him cool shoes? 

“And?”

“_ And _-” She sighs, giving him a look and leaning in closer. “It’s a quest-” she whispers. Richie recoils as if she had just bitten him.

“A quest?!” He shouts, attracting the attention of other wandering half bloods. 

“_ Shhh _!” She hisses, glancing around in a panic. 

“What- why, why _ me _?” Richie suddenly felt sick to his stomach. He hadn’t been on a quest since he failed miserably at the last one. Like, failed. Hard. He didn’t think he’d ever get another quest, and he wasn’t exactly mad at that. He fucked up royally- and now they wanted him to do it again?

“I don’t know, Richie. But, there’s going to be three of us, and I’m getting pretty good vibes, psychically, anyways.” Richie must not have looked convinced, Bev places a hand on his upper arm and squeezes. 

Richie grinned back at her, though he still feels anxious, he puts those emotions in the back of his mind and focuses on what’s in front of him. “I appreciate the vibe check, Madame Marsh.” Bev rolls her eyes and shoves him playfully, Richie laughs back. 

“Shut up, asshole.” 

They arrive at the large cabin not long after. Cabin isn’t really the descriptor that Richie would use, honestly. It was incredibly Greecian, large and white, complete with big stone pillars. It was practically straight from a history book. The inside was just as grand as the out, big and spacious, though it was somewhat less intimidating, what with the paintings and photos from all the years that Camp Halfblood had been open (there were a lot of photos. When Richie first got here, he’d spend hours looking at all the different kids in them- marveling at how some even looked like him). 

While Richie’s eyes slid from photo to photo, Bev had knocked on the big door belonging to Mr. P. “Come in.” They heard. Richie bent over at the waist, gesturing to Bev to go first. 

“After you, Madame Marsh.” He said in his nasally and too loud British accent. Bev went first, but not without flipping him off as she walked by, a small smirk on her red lips, Richie snickered. 

When Richie entered the room after Bev, she was sitting down in one of the empty chairs across from Mr. P. Of the three chairs, two were now occupied. In the one farthest from the door sat a kid that Richie barely recognized. He had dark, sandy blond curls and pale skin, with grey blue eyes. 

Huh, an Athena kid. 

“Mr. Tozier, please have a seat.” Across from them was Mr. P- known more commonly as Philostete. A washed up hero trainer from ancient Greecian times. He was pretty cool, for the most part. He let Richie do his thing, away from his overcrowded cabin and fellow demi-gods, and in return Richie didn’t cause much trouble (still his fair share, but he tried to keep it to a minimum). He was fairly lenient towards year rounders, in general. 

“Mr. P! Haven’t seen you around, lately.” Richie pulled out the chair and sat down next to Bev. “Though you finally ditched camp and hooked up with some hot goddess.” He wriggled his eyebrows at the older man. 

Mr. P’s tanned face was full of fine lines and wrinkles, crows feet on his eyes crinkled as he smiled at Richie. “How could I leave my favorite camper?” His sarcasm was heavy, causing Richie to laugh. 

“Wow, with an attitude like that, it must’ve been Bev’s m-” Before Richie could finish, Beverly clamps her hand over his mouth, stopping him. 

“Do you want her to kill you, dummy?” She hisses, her eyes narrowed and serious. And okay, maybe Richie shouldn’t have gone there. He really didn’t want the wrath of a goddess coming down on him. Richie was, however, amused to see the Athena kids somewhat disturbed expression as he stared at him and Bev. 

Mr. P cleared his throat, bringing their attention back to him. “Anyways, I called you three here for a particular reason.” Richie’s hands started to sweat, he ignored it. “You have been chosen for a quest.” Richie swallowed hard. 

See, quests were important. Very important- also incredibly rare. There were usually no more than two given out per year, and some years none were given at all. Most kids weren’t ever given a chance to have a quest, there simply weren’t many to go around, and they were only given to the worthy. And those worthy were chosen by the Seer. 

So yeah, they were a pretty big deal. 

Richie wanted to ask “why me?” but he didn’t get a chance. The Athena kid on the end spoke, “Mr. P, sir?” Mr. P nodded his head, signaling him to continue. “Can I…” Richie could hear the quiver in his voice. He’d never seen someone from the Athena cabin show their fear so willingly. “Can I turn it down?” Mr. P blinked, his mouth thinning. “I just- I just got here. Isn’t there anyone else, anyone more experienced that’d be more appropriate to have on the quest?” 

“Stanley,” That’s what his name was! “I understand that you are nervous, anyone in your shoes would be. If you truly do not want to go on the quest, then that is your choice.” Stanley seemed to relax at that, that this was an optional quest. Richie knew, however, that there was no such thing as an optional quest. “Remember, Stanley, you will not be alone on the quest. You’ll have both Richie and Beverly with you, the two of them have been with us at Camp Halfblood for many years, you’ll be in good hands.” From beside him, Richie could see Bev give him a comforting smile, which Stanley reluctantly returned. Richie kept his eyes glued in front of him, he still wasn’t feeling so confident himself. 

“Let me explain the parameters of the quest first, before you make a decision.” Mr. P continues, “We’ll be sending you three to a boarding school in upstate New York,”

“_ Fancy _.” Richie whistled. 

“Very. They started their school semester about a month ago, and a satyr has reported that there is a strong demigod presence.”

“How strong?” Bev asks. 

“Incredibly.” Mr. P replies. 

“How many halfbloods are we talking?” Richie asks. A strong presence could be multiple things, maybe a few different halfbloods, like siblings, that could collectively give off a strong aura. Or, like in Bev’s case, they could be born from a more powerful god, like Zues or Poseidon. 

“We don’t know, our satyr had to pull out.” Richie snorted. Bev rolled her eyes. “We weren’t able to confirm who it is or how many there are.”

“Making us do all the work, thanks Mr. P.” Richie drolls, sarcasm heavy in his voice. Mr. P didn’t take any offence. 

“That’s why we’ve chosen the _ best _, Richie.” Richie didn’t miss the pointed look Mr. P gave him, he looked away. 

“When do we leave?” Bev asks.

“You’ll be heading out at sunrise, tomorrow. So, what do you say, Mr. Uris?” They all look to Stanley, who breaths in deep at the attention, looking down at his hands for a moment. 

Then he looked up, “Alright.” 

Mr. P smiled. 

They all left the office in a hurry, eager to go to dinner for a last meal before having to head out at sunrise (so early, ew). 

“I don’t think we’ve met, by the way.” Bev says to Stanley as they’re on the way to the dinner hall. “I’m Beverly Marsh, from-”

“I know.” Stanley interrupts, “I mean, I just know who you are. I’m Stanley, from the Athena cabin.” He says, awkwardly shaking Bev’s hand. Richie couldn’t help but laugh at Stanley’s lack of eye contact and his weak handshake, he was so different then any Athena kid he’d ever met, and that wasn’t a bad thing.

Stanley looked up sharply at Richie’s laugh, Richie grinned, “Richie Tozier, from Hermes cabin. D’you wanna shake my hand, too?” To his surprise, Stanley does shake his hand with a determined face, his grey blue eyes narrowed into a glare. “Wow, okay Stan the Man, I get it now.” 

“Don’t mind him, he’s part idiot.” 

The walk to the food hall was less awkward now that they were all relatively familiar with each other. 

“So… have either of you been on a quest, before?” Stan asks, as they near the hall. 

Richie wanted to say no right away and pretend it was his first go around, but Bev beat him to it. 

“Yeah, Richie has!” Richie side eyes her as he keeps his hands occupied by adjusting his thick glasses, Stan turns his attention to him. 

“Yeah, kinda. Wasn’t really as important as this, though.” He mumbles, kicking a stray rock. 

“Did you have to locate any demigods?” Stan asks, Bev was looking at him with interest, too. She came the summer after his quest, and despite her begging for details, he refused to give her any, making up different excuses along the way, but mostly saying it was a top secret quest, need to know only. And Richie was the only person that needed to know, as far as he was concerned. 

“Hey, Mike! Listen, I’ll catch you nerds tomorrow, ‘kay?” Richie says, calling out to Mike, who sat at the Apollo table. He didn’t wait for a response before speeding over to where his other friend sat.

“Richie-” He could hear Bev call from behind him, but he pretended he couldn’t hear, weaving his way through the hungry crowd of demigods to the Apollo table, which was right next to the overflowing Hermes table. 

Richie was thankfully able to avoid them for the rest of the night, for once thankful that they were forced to sit with their half-siblings and cabin mates. He did feel a little bad, though, as he watched Bev sit at her table, alone. Picking at her food. 

His curious eyes found their way over to Stan, who sat at the end of the Athena cabin table. He took a sip of his cup, every once and awhile, but he mostly sat in silence, not really interacting with the other halfbloods around him. 

Richie was careful to avoid their gazes, though. And at the end of the night he was one of the first to scrape his table scraps into the pyre and be on his way to his bunk. He had a feeling he wouldn’t get much sleep.

* * *

The sun wasn’t even up yet. Disgusting. 

Richie stood next to his two quest partners. It was dark and quiet, not even a dryad was up, Richie was sure. They were all packed and ready to go, each with a small suitcase and backpack, since they weren’t sure how long they were going to be there. They had also brought their weapons of choice. Richie kept his sword on a chain around his neck, making it look like a mini dagger until he spoke it’s command word. 

“Alright, you three.” Mr. P says, motioning them to follow him, which they did. “Your job is to locate the demigod or gods, as it may be, alert me, and then extract. Remember, safety is the most important thing.” 

“Yes, Mr. P.” Beverly responded, somewhat sleepily. He nodded as they neared a car. A man Richie knew as Argus stood in front of the opened door. He was covered in eyes, big and small, some closed and still sleeping, some awake and actively looking at them. Richie was too tired to be grossed out.

“May the Gods be with you.” Was the last thing Mr. P said to them before they shuffled into the back of the car, which was surprisingly spacious. Richie immediately zonked out, having gotten almost no sleep the night before, too busy silently worrying about his new quest (as well as answering tons of questions from his nosy cabin mates, especially the younger ones). 

The ride was long and uneventful, almost a four hour trip in total. Really, Richie could’ve flown there in less than half the time, but unfortunately Stan and Bev didn’t possess his skills in flight. They stopped for breakfast halfway through the trip, and still somehow made it to their new school well before lunch. 

“Holy fucking shit.” Richie mumbles, staring at the fucking castle of a school in front of them. It was bigger and more grand than any ‘school’ he’d seen before- granted, it had been a few years since Richie actually attended a legitimate school (well, a few years short of a decade if you were counting, but Richie wasn’t). This type of school was definitely above his families pay grade, when he lived with his mom. 

“I second that.” Bev says, eyes just as comically wide.

Before they left, Mr. P had informed them that virtually everything had been taken care of, all they needed to do was meet with the Principal before classes, get their assigned rooms, attend class and search for the halfblood who has been basically a giant beacon for every evil monster in the tri-state area. 

Easy-peasy, right?

Argus opened the door for them once they arrived and helped them with their luggage. He gave them a respectful nod, and then drove away. 

“Now what?” Stan asks. It was a fair question. 

“Now, we find the Principal.” Bev supplies helpfully, taking a deep breath, she marched forward, towards the ornate double doors of the boarding school. Stand and Richie shared a look, Richie could still tell Stan was unsure about all of this, despite Athena’s blood running through his veins. 

“How hard can this be?” Richie asked, rhetorically, with a shrug, following after Bev. Stan sighed and trailed behind them 

Turns out finding the Principal's office wasn’t easy. The school was fucking ginormous! And why, Richie wanted to know, were half the classrooms empty? Did parents really shell out the big bucks so that their kids could live in a fucking castle for nine months a year?

But eventually a teacher lead them there, and they finally met him. 

Richie’s first reaction to said Principal? He was weird as fuck. 

First, he was tall. Like, really tall- Richie himself was around 6’0”, and it felt like this guy towered over him. Second, he was weirdly pale with bright orange hair, sticking out in tufts, and okay maybe pale with orange hair wasn’t that strange, but still. Richie just got a weird vibe from him. 

“Oh, hello children! I heard you were all coming today.” The Principal says with a grin, one Richie couldn’t bring himself to return. Even the guy’s smile was all weird and unnatural, his lips too thin and taught over his large front two teeth. Thankfully Bev was braver than Stan and Richie, she took a step forward, returning the smile.

“Thank you, Principal…?” 

“I’ve forgotten to introduce myself! Oh, how rude of me. I am Principal Wise, it’s a pleasure to meet you three.” Even the way he talked was creepy. Richie really wanted to talk to the person that hired this freak, because like what the fuck were they thinking?

Bev smiled back, “It’s nice to meet you too, Principal Wise. I’m Beverly Marsh, this is Richie Tozier-” She gestured to her right, at Richie, who awkwardly raised a hand in a sort of wave. “And Stanley Uris.” Stan nodded stiffly. 

“Oh how wonderful! Now, let’s get you all settled in, yes?” He called for two other people to bring them to their dorms so they could drop off their luggage before going to class. “It was nice to meet you children!” Principal Wise called from behind them as they were led away, Richie kept his eyes glued in front of him, not wanting to even look at the creep. 

“This has to be some elaborate prank, right?” Richie says in a whisper to Stan and Bev as they walked behind the Principal’s assistant (who actually looked semi-normal, thank fuck). “I mean, who the fuck hired that clown?” 

Bev huffed out a laugh, and he even caught Stan smile a little. “He was a little eccentric…” Stan muttered. 

“A little?” Richie says, a little too loudly, Bev elbows him in the ribs as the guy ahead of them gives them a look. 

They were eventually led outside and through a fancy garden (with gazebos and everything, this place was wild). The boys and girls dorm were separate “Lame!” Richie exclaims as Bev is brought to a different building. The dorm building is silent as they walk in, it being class time and all. They ended up on the second floor of the building, all the way at the end of the hall. The assistant giving them a lowdown of the rules; “curfew is 10pm, lights out at 11pm. Girls are not allowed in their rooms, however they are allowed in the common areas on the first floor and vice versa. Classes were Monday through Friday,” (they were then handed their personal schedules) “On the weekends, they were free to explore the numerous extra curricular activities, there were tennis and golf courses, rock climbing, and a huge private lake that was used for swimming, kayaking, etc.” Richie’s head was spinning by the end of it. It felt like he was suddenly the main character in Downton Abbey.

The assistant left them to get settled in their dorms, they were to join classes after lunch. Richie and Stan would be sharing a dorm room. They shuffled into the room together, and Richie was actually pretty pleased with it. It was a medium sized room, way bigger than the tiny bunk beds he had at the Hermes cabin. 

“I call the window bed!” Richie launches himself past Stan, jumping face first onto the full sized bed. It was pretty soft. He can see Stan roll his eyes, before calmly walking over to the other bed. “_ So _, what d’you think so far?” Richie asks Stan as he peers out the window, down at the garden. “Personally, I think this place is bougie as fuck, but like in a good way.” He turns to look at Stan, who is looking around the room, like some sort of inspector. Richie snorts, “You look like the kind of kid who went to a place like this before Camp Halfbood.” 

Stanley stops looking around the room, turning to Richie instead. “I moved around a lot, but mostly I went to private Jewish schools.” 

“Ah, that makes sense.”

“What do we do now?” Stan asks, sitting at the edge of his bed.

“Uh, didn’t hear the guy? We’re supposed to go to class-”

“No, I mean like, how do we find the ‘_ you know who _’?” Stan asks, whispering the last part. Richie snorts, falling back on the bed.

“Pfft, halfblood isn’t a cursed word, you know. And you just keep an eye out for people like us. Like how we were before we found out our parents were Gods.”

Stan’s brows furrowed, “‘Like we were’?” he asks, a confused lilt in his voice. Richie sighed, flipping over from his back to his stomach, looking at the other halfblood. 

“Yeah, dude. You know, like getting in trouble a lot, detention, dyslexic, the whole nine yards.” Stan nods like he finally understood,

“And once we find them, then what?” That was a good question. Richie wanted to say ‘that’s when we tell them what they are’ but as soon as a demigod knew what they were, the trouble they were attracting tripled. It made things even more dangerous. He remembers Mr. P saying that the halfblood (or halfbloods) at this school were drawing even more attention then normal, which wasn’t a good sign. 

“Once we find them… we play it by ear.” Stan raised an eyebrow, clearly he was expecting a more profound answer, but Richie was used to disappointing people. “We have to figure out how many and who they are, first, then we can figure out if we tell them what they are, or just figure out an extraction to get to Camp Halfblood, first.” Honestly, plans were more an Athena thing. Richie didn’t understand why _ he _had to be the one making up the bad plan.

“Alright.” Stan says, before looking at the mounted clock on the wall. “We should go.” Richie sighed, sagging against his bed. “Richie-”

“I’m coming, I’m coming.” Was his muffled response, before literally rolling off the bed and following after Stan. 

For better or for worse, the school didn’t have a uniform. Which meant Richie felt poor as fuck walking down the hallway where half the kids he say were wearing some sort of fucking designer brand (who wears Gucci in 11th grade?). 

They had to split up, Richie going to gym and Stan going to Human Biology. They made plans to meet up at their dorm building after classes were over for that day (Richie had sent a text to Bev, too, to keep her in the loop). 

The gym was hard to miss, it was a large building with huge glass windows lining the sides. About as expensive looking as everything else in the school. Richie went up to the teacher as soon as he spots her, holding out his schedule as proof he was supposed to be there. She gives him an excited grin, informing him that they had just started the fencing section of the year, she led him to an equipment room, hands him a white uniform and a face protection mask to go along with it, and points him in the direction of the boys locker room. 

Richie is excited as fuck. Fencing? In school? The class was basically made for him! He had above average skills at swords play, thanks for his many, many years at Camp Halfblood. In fact, he was probably the best from his cabin. While fencing and sword fighting were slightly different (fencing was boring and sword fighting was fun), Richie was confident enough that he’d have no trouble. 

He changes relatively fast, most of the boys were already done by the time he made it down there, stuffing his leather jacket and chucks into an unused locker, he pulls on the white padded uniform, keeping the helmet off for now, before joining the rest of the class. 

Everyone sat in front of the teacher, on the ground. She stood with her hands clasped behind her back. “Alright everyone, before we get started, I’d like to welcome Mr. Richie Tozier to class today.” As if on cue, everyone turned to face him. Some with a smile, others silently sizing him up, and a few clearly couldn’t care less about him. Richie grinned and lifted his arm into a slight wave. “He’s a late transfer from… I’m sorry, Mr. Tozier, where are you from?”

“Long Island. I’m from Long Island.” It was mostly true. The gym teacher nodded. 

“Alright, we’re glad to have you with us. Please make him feel welcome, everyone.” She moved on, first to a very, very boring lecture about the different techniques of fencing, what kind of grip to have based on your style, as well as who your opponent was. Basic stuff that Richie already knew. “Alright, now let’s move onto some demonstrations of what we just learned, then we’ll have a few fun skirmishes!” The class broke out into excited murmurs. “Eddie, if you’d please join me.” 

A kid Richie’s age stood up from the front row, he had dark brown hair and tanned skin that was spattered with sun kissed freckles, hazel colored eyes that caught the afternoon sun _ just right _ . He was short but not tiny, probably a head shorter than Richie. Richie felt his heart race just a bit. _ This kid seems interesting _, he thought, leaning forward in interest. 

True to the teachers word, Eddie showed off a few different grips and what not. And if Richie watched him maybe too intently it was just because he felt that there was something _ different _about the kid. 

After about ten minutes, the teacher called up another student, Richie didn’t care enough to hear a name, to be Eddie’s opponent for the first skirmish. The teacher explained the parameters of the match, it’ll last three minutes, get as many touches on the other person you can, yada yada, boring boring, and then the match started and man. Little Eddie was _ good _. He dodged and weaved, his instincts were great, never letting his opponent touch him. Richie noted that he seemed… hesitant, sometimes. Like he was afraid he was holding a real sword, that he’d hurt his opponent. The round ended with 7-0. The class politely clap as Eddie and the other guy take off their helmets and shook hands. Eddie didn’t even look winded. 

Before Richie’s mind had a chance to catch up, his hand is raised in the air and he’s on his feet, “I’d like a round!” And the class goes quiet. 

“Um, Mr. Tozier, it’s only your first day of class and Eddie has been in fencing for quite awhile-“ the teacher says, apologetically. Richie’s eyes move to meet Eddie’s, who’s brow is furrowed and oh my god he looks like an angry puppy _ it’s adorable _-

“Don’t worry, Teach, I was on the fencing team at my last school. None of this is new to me” Lies came naturally to Richie, courtesy of his father. It managed to soothe his teacher, who nodded.

“Oh, well perfect. Let’s get you up here, then.” Richie made his way through the crowd of sitting teens, standing in front of Eddie, he stuck out his hand with a grin,

“Good luck, Eddie.” Richie held back his laughter as Eddie tentatively reached out and shook his hand, as if his hand was a serpent. 

“You too.”

Then they put their helmet on and got into position. Their teacher blew her whistle, signaling the start of the three minute match. 

Richie was the first to lunge forward, putting Eddie on the defensive. Richie was fast, even for a Hermes kid, and he used it to his advantage, throwing Eddie off guard he poked him with the end of his fencing sword. 

The whistle blew again, giving Richie the point. He could hear some clapping from the students watching them. Richie couldn’t see Eddie’s reaction, the metal shade of the helmet obscuring his face, but from the tenseness of his shoulders and his tightening grip, Richie could guess that _ maybe _Eddie wasn’t happy with Richie scoring so fast. 

They reset, and Eddie was more prepared this time, still on the defensive but with a quicker reaction time. Richie teases him with a few lunges that were easily blocked, then he saw his opening- lunging forward Richie was able to tap Eddie’s shoulder, the whistle blew. 

Richie could hear a soft “_ what the fuck _” come from Eddie, causing him to chuckle as they reset. 

They continued like that for the rest of the three minutes, Richie on the attack. The more points he earned, the more frustrated Eddie became, the sloppier his movies were. When their teacher blew the final whistle, Richie had won 12-0, a standing ovation was given as Richie tore his helmet off and gave a couple of over embellished bows to his cheering classmates. 

“Thank you, thank you!” He yelled as the bell rang, and the teacher dismissed them, giving Richie a pat on the back. 

Richie turned to Eddie with a grin, however when he turned to where he was, he found that no one was there. Did he already make a run for the locker room? Richie quickly followed, dodging his classmates that clapped him in the back and complimented him as he passed. 

There he was, as Richie expected, his fencing uniform already off and folded into a neat pile next to him. 

“Hey, man!” Richie shouts, drawing Eddie’s attention to him. His hazel eyes narrowed, his frown deepened as he slammed his locker shut. 

“What do you want?” Eddie grumbled, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. 

“Just wanted to say that it was a good match.” Richie said, undeterred by Eddie’s cold shoulder. Eddie scoffed, brushing past him. “Hey- wait!” He called after Eddie, who rushed towards the exit. “_ Motherfucker- _ “ Richie cursed, attempting to rip off his fencing uniform (which, right now, felt more like a straight jacket), finally he was free! Leaving his uniform in a cluttered pile, he slipped on his chucks (one of the best parts of those shoes, was that they grew _ with _him, so they were always the perfect size) and rushed out of the locker room, and if he used his godly powers of speed, well that was his business, thank you very much. 

Thankfully, Eddie wasn’t too far. He made it outside and was heading towards his next class, probably.

“Hey!” 

Eddie turned around, clearly startled, “Holy _ shit, _you’re fast.” He mumbled, Richie smirked.

“Thanks, Eds.”

Eddie’s lip curled at the nickname, “_ Eddie. _ And what do you want? Come to brag about how well you fucking beat me? I get it, okay, you’re good at fucking fencing.” Damn, he talked a mile a minute.

“What-? No, I wasn’t going to brag! I was just gonna say that you were really good-“ Eddie interrupts him, stopping and turning to face Richie. 

“I was ‘good’? I didn’t touch you once!” His voice lifts and octave and somehow, Richie still finds himself somewhat intimidated. But intimidation has never deterred Richie before. 

“Yeah, but I’m just _ super _good. You’d have to be super extra good to get a point on me.” Richie says with a laugh. Bev was one of the only people on camp that could match him with a sword. He lifts a hand and places it on Eddie’s shoulder (who looked super affronted). “Maybe next time, cupcake.” 

Eddie practically rips his shoulder from Richie’s grasp (and, okay, fair enough) and steps back a couple of steps, “don’t touch me, asshole.” 

Richie felt someone approaching the two of them, a heavy and overpowering aura. It was like the air was thickening. A boy, their age and only slightly shorter than Richie, with sandy brown hair walked up to Eddie, his blue eyes looking at Richie suspiciously. “Is this g-guy bothering you, Eh-Eddie?”

Richie made a face, who the fuck was this guy? He wanted to say as much, but Eddie just grabbed the kid by the arm, dragging him towards a different building. “No, Bill, let’s just hurry. I don’t want to be late for class.” Eddie gave him one last look over his shoulder, Richie gave him a wink.

“See ya later, Eds!” It was worth it, to see Eddie scowl.

The rest of the day passed without incident. He was repeatedly introduced in all of his classes, managing to skirt by, despite not having been to an actual school in literal years. He had English with Bev after gym, and Calculus (he wanted to talk to Mr. P about putting him in that awful class) with Eddie and Stan as his last class. Eddie sat at the very front, and avoided even so much as looking in his direction, practically sprinting out of class the moment the bell rang. It was pretty hilarious. 

He had a promising lead with Eddie, and there were no big alarm bells ringing in his mind, telling him he was in danger. Maybe this quest wasn’t going to be so bad after all?

True to their word, the trio met up later that afternoon, opting for a quiet section of the garden, hidden and secluded by a large oak tree and trimmed hedges. 

Richie was leaning with his back pressed against the trunk of the oak tree, picking at the blades of grass by his legs. Bev sat cross-legged in front of him, and Stan sat on his sweater (“I don’t want to get my pants dirty, Richie.”) arms around his knees.

“So, what do we have so far?” Bev asks, her green eyes looking between the two of them. 

“I think I got him.” Richie says, casually. Bev and Stan’s attention snapped to him, he grinned. 

“Like, you figured it out?” Stan asks, mouth agape. Richie nodded.

“Yup,” he said, popping the ‘p’. He then explained what happened earlier, with him and Eddie. 

“Wait… you think he’s one of us,” Stan asked slowly, a single eyebrow raised, “because he couldn’t beat you at fencing?” He could hear Bev stifling a laugh. 

“What, no. He beat the _ other _guy!” Richie yelled. Okay maybe when he said it like that, it sounded fucking stupid. The other two must have thought as much, judging by the stupid looks on their faces. Richie rolled his eyes, picking out a fist full of grass and chucking it at the ground. “Fine. I’ll obviously look into him more, but I’m just saying, sometimes you can just tell if someone is a halfblood- and I just, just got this feeling from him.” He said. 

Bev and Stan looked down in thought. “Well, it is our only lead so far.” Bev added and Stand nodded. “But we can’t just base anything off of whether or not they’re decent at fencing-”

“Hey! Fencing is a form of sword play, Marsh! It’s not a dumb theory.” 

“Fine, Tozier, we’ll keep an eye on your boy.” Richie grinned. “But we also have to keep our eyes peeled for anyone else, we don’t know how many halfbloods could be here.” On that, they all agreed. “Now, shall we go to dinner?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> richie: *sees a cute guy he wants to impress*  
richie: *beats cute boy at something cute boy was really proud of*  
cute boy: *is not impressed*  
richie: :(
> 
> same richie, same
> 
> Alright yall I'm just going to say that I have read 3 PJO books, so my knowledge of the series is super limited, other than me googling the fuck out of it, but I do have a vast knowledge and understanding of Greek myths in general. So this will be loosely based on the idea behind PJO, but I'm going to try to avoid any sort of canon. 
> 
> I put in a lot of work deciding what everyones God would be! As a refresher, so far we have:  
Richie: Hermes  
Stanley: Athena  
Mike: Apollo  
Eddie: ???  
Bill: ???  
Beverly: ???  
Ben: ???
> 
> I will be dropping mad hints along the way (I feel like bev's is very obvious at this point)
> 
> Please drop a kudos/comment if you're enjoying this series! thats what I thrive off of! Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

“W-who was that guy anyways, Eddie?” 

Eddie subtly glanced over his shoulder, and to his relief Richie was retreating back towards the gym. Eddie let out a sigh, looking up at Bill, who walked next to him, his blue eyes looking at him concerned. That was kind of Bill’s thing- being concerned. They had only known each other for what, just over a month now? He was the closest thing Eddie had to a friend since- well, since  _ ever _ , really. 

And it made Eddie feel uncomfortable, with the concerned looks and how he tried to defend Eddie from Richie like he was in some sort of danger (which, okay maybe Eddie had trouble with some of the assholes that stayed on campus, but that wasn’t anything new. He has always been picked on, Eddie sometimes wondered if he had an invisible sign on him that said ‘I’m small! Beat me up!’ His mother told him he was  _ cursed _ . Her actual words, by the way. And with the way Eddie’s life had been up until now? Well, Eddie was inclined to believe her.) 

But regardless, Eddie had been  _ fine  _ on his own- and he knows that Bill means well, but really. He was totally fine, Eddie had a sense about things, he could tell when he was really in danger and that Richie Tozier? He felt more warning signs Henry Bowers and his gang of idiots than he did from that tall asshole (who volunteers on their first day- first! To totally demolish someone else, honestly). 

“Eh-Eddie?” Bill asks, calling Eddie’s attention back to him. Eddie just shrugs, giving the other boy a small smile that he hoped was convincing,

“Some new kid, I don’t really know. Hey, I gotta go this way, I’ll see you at dinner?” He see’s Bill nod and give his own reply, and Eddie makes his way to his next class, trying to forget about the bespectacled fencing champ. 

Eddie was distracted the rest of the day. Especially his last class, where he could practically feel Richie glaring a hole in the back of his head. Calculus was one of the few classes he really excelled in and he was so stuck in his own head that he messed up a problem that his teacher had called him up to the board to solve (he walked back to his desk red faced and shamed). And when the bell finally rang and class was dismissed, Eddie practically bolted out of his seat, not because he was avoiding Richie, with his stupid hipster glasses, and his dumb leather jacket-  _ nope _ . Not at all. 

-

Dinner was between 6 and 7:30 pm, everyday. Students were free to come and go at their leisure, and Eddie preferred to arrive closer to 7, hoping to avoid the crowds. That meant, of course, walking across the darkened campus, the sun having set not long ago, signalling the arrival of autumn. Usually he walked to dinner with Bill, since they dormed together, but sometimes Bill was busy with other after-school activities, or with his younger brother- whatever the reason was, it meant that Eddie was walking to dinner by himself that evening. Which was totally cool! It’s not like Eddie was afraid of the dark or anything stupid like that. And if he walked at a brisk pace, well that was his business, thank you very much. 

He kept his eyes glued to his smartphone as he walked through the grounds of the school, there were a few other kids around, but it was a quiet night for the most part. He was about halfway to the dining hall when he heard some shouts in the distance, so he stopped. He felt compelled to investigate, his feet taking him to a somewhat secluded area, covered with hedges and trees, concealed partially with the side of a brick building. Eddie pressed himself against a nearby tree, for once thankful that his short and slim stature kept him from standing out too much. 

A couple dozen yards ahead of him were a few people he unfortunately recognized. It was three on one, the three being a group of bullies that had somehow not been kicked out of school- Patrick Hockstetter pushes a round-faced boy, to Belch, who shoves him back to Hockstetter, with Vic Cross laughing in the background. 

Eddie breathes in sharply, realizing that the boy they were pushing around was Ben, someone who he had a few classes with. He was sweet, too sweet probably. Catching the attention of the gang of psycho’s that tended to pick on whoever they found weak. Eddie had his fair share of run ins with them, but thankfully he avoided any lasting injuries. 

Ben tried to make a run for it, but he wasn’t fast enough, his backpack was grabbed and he was pulled back by Belch, who was massive. 6 foot something and probably close to 200 lbs, he was practically a giant. 

Eddie’s hands curled into fists, scraping against the rough bark of the tree he stood behind. He felt sick just watching this. His mind wondered, what would Bill do?  _ Easy _ . Bill wouldn’t hesitate to march up to them, tell them to fuck off, not scared of throwing a fist or two and he’d get poor, sweet Ben out of there with just a few scrapes. Because Bill was good, and he was brave. He had a stutter, but he didn’t let it keep him from doing what was right. Eddie wanted to move, he did. He wanted nothing more than to do what Bill would do, and help the poor kid but- but his mother’s words ran through his head;

“ _ Eddie-bear, you are fragile and delicate. Remember that, keep your head down and stay out of trouble, or you’ll regret it. _ ”

His mother’s words of advice that he always tried to follow (for the most part). He didn’t really think he was fragile or delicate, despite his mom attempting to get him out of all gym classes, he always managed to secretly enroll in them. And even though the new guy showed him up, he was  _ good  _ at fencing. Maybe he wasn’t so bad at everything, after all? Henry Bowers, who was the worst of them all, wasn’t even there! So what was he so afraid of?

So he took a shaky step out, and then another and another and- 

A girl strides up to the group of laughing boys. Her hair is red and curly, and she’s pretty, but she’s way more than  _ just  _ pretty. 

Eddie is a little bit closer now, so he can hear what they’re saying. They whistle as she confidently walks closer, stopping with a hand on her hip. 

Hockstetter steps closer, his snake-like face grinning something sadistic. And Eddie wants to yell at her to run, to get out of there because while Bowers isn't there, the other three are still dangerous and awful. But Eddie’s voice is caught in his throat, of course. So he watches her laugh dismissively at him, as he asks “see anything you like?” which, gross and lame. 

“ _ I think you three forgot what you were doing here. _ ” Her voice is slow and smooth, like caramel or molasses. Eddie watches as the three goons faces cloud over for a moment, as they look around, eyebrows knit together in confusion.  _ “I think you were all leaving, going back to your rooms. _ ” 

They look at her and nod slowly, turning around and walking away. They don’t even spare a glance to Ben who sits on the grass, mouth agape, eyes flicking back and forth between the red haired girl and the three bullies, who walk away as if in a haze. 

That was… weird. Like, really weird, right? 

The girl was still grinning, her lips quirked to the side as she offered a hand to Ben, who snapped out of his stupor faster than Eddie did. He accepted the hand, rising to stand on his feet with her help. “Are you alright?” She asks, her voice no longer has that smooth and slow lilt to it. 

Ben nods quickly, seemingly having a hard time coming up with what to say. 

Eddie felt a little stupid, standing not so far away but just watching, so he closes the distance between him and the other two, who look over to him. “Hey, Ben, I, uh, saw what happened- are you okay?” Ben gives him a smile, if he saw Eddie watching and being too afraid to do anything earlier, he doesn’t give any indication. 

“Hey Eddie, yeah I’m good. They were just being assholes.”

“Eddie?” The girl asks, a single perfect brow raising. Eddie can feel his face flush at her calculating stare. “Huh. Well, it’s nice to meet you Eddie,” her green eyes look from Eddie to Ben, “Ben. I’m Beverly Marsh.”

“I’m Ben! Um, Hanscom.” Ben’s blushing and it’s adorable as he holds out his hand for Beverly to shake. Beverly looks at it, but she seems amused, not annoyed or embarrassed. Ben seems to regret his immediate re-introduction and awkward handshake, and falters for a moment. About to take the hand away, Bev grasps it with a grin. 

“Pleasure, Ben Hanscom. Now, I don’t know about you two, but I’d like dinner before they stop serving.” It was an invitation for them to walk with her, and Eddie didn’t see why not. Despite her weird mind control magic trick, she seemed like a cool person. 

“Lead the way?” 

The dining hall was massive, Eddie knew that their tuition had to at least partially be going towards sustaining such a large building with a seemingly endless variety of food choices. They finally arrived, joining the line which was nearly empty, as was the majority of the large room. Most people had finished eating, as it was almost closing time for the kitchen. They got their food quickly, sitting at an empty table. 

The food here was great, and was one of Eddie’s favorite things about it. The variety was not only huge, but they also were really respectful of potential food allergies, so Eddie always made sure to grab his food from the gluten free section, and it still tasted pretty good.

They ate in awkward silence. Eddie wracked his brain with ideas for what to talk about, but he came up empty. He didn’t really know Ben, not really. They had a couple of classes together, like French (which Ben was freakishly good at, Eddie could hardly read the words) but other than exchanging a few pleasantries, they didn’t talk. 

And Beverly? She was so intimidating that he was too nervous to make eye contact with her, instead he alternates between picking at his food and fiddling with his ring on his right hands left finger. 

“So…” Beverly begins, Eddie can tell she’s looking at him and Ben, but he continues to stare downward, briefly glancing up to confirm that she was. “Who were those assholes?”

“Just some bullies. They, uh, usually are a lot worse, honestly.” Eddie says, glancing over at Ben, who nods in agreement. 

“Who knows where Bowers was, I’m just glad he wasn’t there.”

“Bowers?” Beverly asks.

“He’s this absolute psycho that must be have connections in high places, to have not been kicked out yet.” Eddie says. Beverly nods slowly, her eyes flitting between Ben and him, like she was trying to dissect what they were saying. 

“What kind of stuff does he- or they, usually do?” Which was a strange question, considering that they were bullies and did what most bullies usually did. Eddie looked up at her, meeting her eyes. Her eyebrows were knitted together, and she was biting her bottom lip in thought, but she seemed unusually calm. Eddie didn’t like the way she looked at him, he decided. Like she could see right  _ into  _ him. He wanted to finish his food and head back to his dorm room and forget about this weird day with all of its weird new kids-

“Hey Bev! And- oh, hello there Eds, mind if I have a seat?” Eddie groaned internally, wanting nothing more than to smash his head on the table in front of him, just knock himself out and save himself from having to talk to Richie Tozier.

“I do, actually.” Is what Eddie says instead, glaring up at Richie, who wore a stupid grin and was already sitting down across from him and next to Bev, his dinner tray clattering loudly on the table. “And it’s  _ Eddie- _ ”

“Well, tough. Bev already reserved this seat for me.” Richie looks over at Bev, who is rolling her eyes, but Eddie can still see a small smile on her face as she shoves his shoulder lightly with her own. Eddie looked back and forth between them, they were awfully close, maybe they were…? 

Eddie shakes his head, going back to his food. Whatever they were, it was clearly none of his business. He barely knew them, anyways, and wanted nothing more than to go back to his room and finish his homework and then sleep. 

Beside Richie, a boy with a head of curly dark blond hair sat next to him, carefully placing his tray down. Eddie recognized him from calculus. He was introduced with Richie, so they must have transferred together. He seemed nice enough, he didn’t have a loud mouth, like his friend, at the very least. 

“Who are you?” Richie asks, looking towards Ben. 

“Oh, hi- I’m Ben. I think we have English together.” Ben replies, he was a good sport, smiling kindly at Richie from his spot next to Eddie. 

Behind Richie’s giant black rimmed frames, his eyes narrow as he nods his head slightly. After a moment he says, “I have no fucking idea who you are.” Immediately Bev elbows him in his ribs, Richie flinches inward, whipping his head over at his assaulter, his mouth agape. 

“Stop being rude, Richie.”

“What, so you want me to  _ lie _ ? Damn Bev…” Eddie tries to hold in an amused snort, but it escapes (which he wasn’t too mad about, because it was fucking funny, and he likes Bev even more now). Eddie’s amusement is like blood in the water and Richie is a shark, who’s attention turns back to him, “oh, was that funny to you?” Richie looks more amused than anything.

“Yeah, it was pretty funny.” 

“He’s not wrong.” Stan says with a straight face. Richie rounds on him, 

“Seriously? You, too? Where’s the loyalty!” Richie says loudly with an exaggerated groan, and Eddie fights back a smile. 

It’s there that he realizes that he’s actually, maybe having a little bit of fun. And Eddie doesn’t know how he feels about that, really. Being in large groups, as a rule, typically make him anxious and eager to get away, he’s never really had any friends, and while he wouldn’t call the group he was with now, friends, not exactly, it was edging dangerously close to that territory. 

Eddie also felt it in his stomach first, low and threatening. He starts fidgeting with his ring, a simple onyx black band that made him just a little more comfortable, usually. They were all having a good time, laughing and joking around and it was all just too much for Eddie. He felt claustrophobic and even though he had barely touched his food, he stood up fast. Ben, Bev, Richie and Stan stopped whatever it was they were talking about, staring at Eddie’s abrupt movements, Eddie could see the questioning looks on their faces, but he kept his head down, eager to just leave. 

“I gotta go.” He says quickly, grabbing his tray and book bag, he retreated from the table. Not stopping to look back, he tosses his dinner and heads to the exit. 

Even though he wanted to stay, to laugh like someone who was normal- he knew that for him, making friends was dangerous. His mother’s words echoed in his mind- he was cursed. And by being by himself he was saving them. And Eddie was okay with that. Or, he told himself he was. 

He walked as fast as he could, his eyes glued to the path in front of him. The campus was well lit, in general, but still. 

He was walking so fast that he didn’t see the person in front of him until he collided with them. “Fuck,” he muttered on instinct, looking up to see who he ran into his heart dropped to his stomach when he saw Principal Wise standing in front of him, his pale face practically white in the moonlight. He grinned down at Eddie somewhat eerily. It was hard for Eddie to not be intimidated, considering the fact that the man literally towered over him, making him feel as small as an ant. “I-I’m  _ so  _ sorry, Principal Wise! I-I wasn’t looking where I was going, and-“ Principal Wise held up a large hand (Eddie was sure that it was larger than his head), and Eddie stopped his stammer of an apology, holding his breath and waiting for- well, Eddie didn’t know what he was waiting for but he knew it wasn’t going to be good. 

“Oh don’t look so scared, my boy! You look like you’ve seen a monster!” It was clearly his version of a joke, but Eddie couldn’t bring himself to even fake a laugh, his throat so tight. This only made the Principal’s smile larger, revealing an uneven row of teeth and  _ oh my god  _ were some of them sharp? Principal Wise leaned down, closing in on Eddie’s personal space, and Eddie couldn’t tell if it was his imagination or not, but he was pretty sure that Principal Wise was practically fucking sniffing him? 

Eddie managed to back up a shaky step, fiddling with his ring. Principal Wise’s eyes glowed yellow (Eddie was almost a hundred percent sure that his eyes were  _ not  _ yellow last time he checked) as he stared down at Eddie, his gaze calculating. “There’s something… off about you, Mr. Kaspbrak. Something odd.” And what the fuck did that mean? Eddie wanted to run, to run all the way back to his dorm but his fucking feet were glued to the ground in fear. He could feel the dinner rising up in his throat, his breath coming quicker and quicker. 

Principal Wise’s terrifying yellow eyes shifted to Eddie’s ring, which he was still fidgeting with. They narrowed. “That ring…”

“H-hey Eddie!”

It was like a tidal wave of relief washed over him. He and Principal Wise both turned their heads to Bill, who jogged up to them. Bill put a hand on Eddie’s shoulder, but he was grinning at Principal Wise, who was now back at his full height, and his eyes were back to their blue. “S-sorry, Principal W-Wise. I didn’t mean to i-interrupt.” 

The principal waved one of his large hands, “no need to worry, Mr. Denbrough. Mr. Kaspbrak and I were just having a small discussion.” His blue eyes flitted between Eddie and Bill, his smile large and Eddie got a feeling it was very fake. Eddie couldn’t suppress a shudder, Bill squeezes his shoulder tighter, and Eddie was thankful. “Have a great night, kids.” And then he was gone. 

Eddie let out a large breath, his heart felt like it was beating out of his chest. 

“I-I don’t like that g-guy.” Bills says, his smile was gone, staring in the direction that the Principal left in. Eddie just nodded, not quite trusting his voice. “H-hey, Eddie… are you okay? What did h-he want from you? I g-got really bad vibes from h-him, a minute ago. L-like he was a t-totally different person.” 

“I… I have no idea, Bill. But-” The yellow eyes, the warning signs blaring in his head for him to run, that he was in danger- would Bill believe him if he told him? Eddie thinks back to his last school, and the one before that. Bad things happened to him then, and no one had ever believed him. He didn’t want Bill to think he was crazy- he really liked Bill. “But, I just want to go back to our room, okay?”

Bill looks at him, considering, his blue eyes are filled with concern. Eddie can tell that he wants to protest, he wants to dig more into just what the Principal was saying to Eddie, moments before he arrived, but Bill was a good friend, so he didn’t ask. He nods, “Okay.” And they head back slowly, Eddie’s legs still feel like jelly, but his heart isn’t beating as fast anymore. “I d-didn’t s-see you at d-dinner, Eddie.” 

Oh, Eddie had forgotten with all of the drama with Ben and now the Principal, that they meant to meet up at dinner. “Sorry, Bill. Ran into the Bowers Gang- minus Bowers- picking on Ben.” 

“S-shit, really?” 

“Yeah, this girl named Beverly basically told them to fuck off and, guess what? They did! It was a goddamn miracle.” 

They walked like that the rest of the way there, chatting about dinner and what not, carefully not mentioning Principal Wise. Maybe Eddie was too paranoid, too on edge from whatever he just went through, but he couldn’t help but feel like he- they- were being watched. 

Sleep didn’t come easy to Eddie that night, he dreamt of yellow eyes and suffocating smoke. 

* * *

Richie stared at Eddie’s retreating back, making a move to stand up and follow him-

“Don’t.” Ben says softly, Richie looked over at him. “It’s just, he wants to be alone. I can tell.” Richie wanted to argue, but he could tell that Ben was right. The last thing Richie wanted was for Eddie to hate him more than he already did. 

“Is he always like that?” Stan asks Ben, who kind of shrugs. 

“He doesn’t really talk much. I know he’s friends with Bill.” Richie wanted to roll his eyes but didn’t want to look like a jealous baby (because he wasn’t jealous at all- what was there to be jealous of? He definitely wasn’t jealous of  _ Bill _ ). “But… he just kind of keeps to himself, and-” But Ben stops himself, looking down at his plate in thought. 

Richie looks at him, waving a hand at Ben, encouraging him to keep talking, “And…?” 

Ben shakes his head, “I don’t know, I guess. He just seems really sad all the time. Lonely.” 

Sad and lonely. Richie pursed his lips together, leaning on his fist. He kind of got those vibes, too, but… when Ben said it out loud like that, it seemed tragic. Eddie honestly seemed nice-  _ good _ . 

* * *

The rest of the week passed by quickly. Richie had his hands full with juggling school work as well as trying to get closer to Eddie- but turns out school actually required his attention and Eddie did his best to avoid Richie, and he was doing a good job at it, too. In the classes they had together, Eddie appeared moments before the bell rang and disappeared seconds after they were dismissed. 

Sometimes he got a word in, in small moments. But those moments were few and limited. Richie wanted to get closer to him, he just had a nagging feeling that he was one of them, but he actually needed proof.

At the end of the week, he still had nothing. 

It was Friday and they were in calculus, Richie only half paying attention. Most of his thoughts went to the back of Eddie’s head. It didn’t go unnoticed. Eddie turned, his hazel eyes glaring daggers at Richie, who gave him a wink. 

Eddie rolled his eyes, turning to look back to the front of the room. But much to Richie’s endless amusement, a slender arm went around his back, giving Richie the finger. Richie snickered. 

Thankfully the dreadful class was over soon after, and Eddie was slower to pack up than usual, so Richie was able to catch up with him soon after. “ _ Soooo _ , any plans for after class today? Y’know, I hear about all these fancy extra curriculars, but no one’s ever shown me-”

“I’m going home.” Eddie says, interrupting Richie as they walk through the halls, Richie thinks they’re headed back to the dorms. Richie pulls a face. 

“What?” Eddie gives him a look, and suddenly Richie feels like he’s missing something. 

“I’m going home for the weekend. Back to New York. Aren’t you from Long Island?” Richie feels a spark of pride that Eddie remembered him saying that. 

“Yeah?” 

“You’re from like, an hour away but your parents pay for boarding through the weekend, too?” Eddie’s looking at him curiously. And well, when he says it like that it does sound pretty weird. But Richie does what he does best- deflect. He shrugs, rolling his shoulders. 

“What can I say, my parents are  _ that  _ rich. Hey, if you’re so worried about me being here, all by my lonesome, I can come home with you?” Eddie looks at him incredulously, and Richie has to fight a grin, “I mean, I’d love to keep your mom company-”

“How old are you, five? Grow the fuck up, Richie.” Richie cackles.

They made it to the dorms, Eddie stops in the lobby, near the entrance to the level one dorms. He looks at Richie, who looks back at him. “What, are you going to follow me all the way back to my room?” 

“Would you like that?” He wriggles his eyebrows.

“Shut up.” Richie doesn’t miss the flush of red on Eddie’s cheeks, or how he storms down the hallway, letting Richie follow him. Eddie seems different today. This is the longest Eddie’s allowed Richie to be around him, and even if they’re only kind of talking, it seems like a big step. But that wasn’t all, Eddie also seemed tired. Richie didn’t miss the bags under Eddie’s eyes, standing out harshly against Eddie’s olive skin. 

The walk to his room his short, Eddie grunts at him to stay outside in the hall, and Richie complies with little complaints. Leaning against the wall. Eddie is in and out in a flash, rolling a tiny suitcase behind him, he shuts and locks his door. 

“All of that for a weekend?” Richie asks, following Eddie once again. Eddie glances at him out of the corner of his eye, shrugging. He clearly doesn’t want to talk about it, and Richie bites his tongue. Eddie seemed tense- well, more tense than usual. “So-” Richie starts, but Eddie stops. 

“Just- what do you want, Richie?” Eddie asks him, looking him in the eye. His brown eyes are piercing and intense. Richie is caught off guard, a little. 

“I-” But Eddie wasn’t finished yet. 

“You-you follow me around, you watch me in class- and don’t pretend you don’t, because I know you do.” He’s doing the motor mouth thing again, his words coming out almost faster than Richie can process them. “Normally, when people are like this with me I get freaked out, and get like a million different warning signs but you- I know you’re not dangerous, or whatever, but you’re also like just there. Always. And I don’t know why you’re so interested in me, but.” Eddie takes a deep breath. “But you should stay away.” He says, softer. 

“Why?” Richie blurts out, and Eddie’s eyes narrow. “Why are you so intent on being by yourself all the time?”

Richie watches as Eddie processes the question, his jaw slackens and he looks away from Richie- looks anywhere  _ but  _ Richie. And their quiet for a moment, Richie can see Eddie’s eyes get wet, but nothing falls, not yet, anyways. 

Suddenly, Eddie looks back up at him. “Bad things happen to people around me, okay?” Richie furrows his brows,

“What the hell does that mean?” Eddie just shakes his head.

“It means that people get hurt. People  _ die _ .” His voice is getting more shrill.

“What? Like- you think you’re  _ cursed _ , or something?” Richie jokes with a humorless chuckle. Eddie’s back straightens out, and he starts to fidget with that black ring again- he looks nervous. And Richie realizes that Eddie actually believed him. “Curses aren’t real, Eddie.” Which wasn’t exactly true, but they were uncommon. 

“That’s not what my mother says.” Eddie practically whispers, but he clamps his mouth shut after. Richie cocks his head to the side. 

“Your  _ mom  _ says your cursed?” Eddie shakes his head again, his lips pursed together in a tight line. “Eds-” 

“I have to go, my mother is probably already here and I can’t be late.” Before Richie could get a word in edgewise, Eddie is speed walking away- if there weren’t so many people around, Richie wouldn’t be hesitant about using his speed but. Appearances, and all that. But Richie wasn’t deterred, in fact he was inspired to see what kind of mother told her son that he was cursed (really, what the fuck).

So Richie followed him, as stealthy as he could. Eddie was in a rush, so it wasn’t like he was paying attention to whether or not Richie really fucked off or not. Eventually they arrived at the front gate, there were a good amount of cars out front, it seemed like a lot of people went back home for the weekend. 

Richie ducked behind a pillar, watching as Eddie looked for his mom, they heard her before they actually saw her (and that was saying much because holy shit-). There was a loud squeal, followed by Eddie being crushed into the bosom of a lady much, much larger than him. “Oh, my Eddie-bear! It’s so good to see you!” She pulls him away after a moment, holding him at arms length, practically examining him. “ _ Tsk _ , are they actually feeding you here? You look so darn skinny. Do I need to send food with you on-“

Eddie looked mortified by the display, he smiled weakly at his mom. “Mother, I’m  _ fine _ . You just saw me last week…” He mumbled the last part, his mother ignoring him completely.

“Eddie-bear you look so  _ tired! _ ” She places two giant hands on the sides of his head, turning it to and through for her liking, scrutinizing every detail. “Are you even sleeping? Come on, honey, into the car we go. You can have a nice nap on the way home, I brought blankets and pillows!” She trailed off, pushing him towards the car and taking care of his luggage. Eddie seemed hesitant and sluggish, like he wanted nothing more than to not get in the car. 

The whole situation just seemed  _ bad _ . Richie has seen his fair share of halfblood kids with bad home lives (himself and Bev included), he wasn’t an expert, god no- but he knew the signs. 

As Richie watched them drive off down the long driveway, away from the school Richie started formulating a plan. Short of a monster coming after him (so far Richie hasn’t run into any, thankfully, but Bev did tell him and Stan about the three bullies who picked on poor Ben, and there was still something so off about their Principal), it was hard for a halfblood to come to the realization by themselves. 

But, maybe all Eddie needed was a push? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First, I just want to thank everyone so much for reading! And thank you for your amazing comments, I appreciate every single one of them!
> 
> Also, there are some really good theories out there! I mentioned this in a comment, so I wanted to give everyone this bit of info, too, regarding the Godly parents. None of the losers have the same Godly parent, Bev, Bill and Eddie's Godly parents are all in the main 12, Ben's, however, is not :) 
> 
> As a reminder:  
Richie: Hermes  
Stanley: Athena  
Mike: Apollo  
Eddie: ???  
Bill: ???  
Beverly: ???  
Ben: ???
> 
> Thank you for reading! If you are enjoying it, please leave a comment and a kudos! I love instant gratification :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beverly receives a prophecy.

Beverly went to sleep, like any other night. Her room was quiet, she was alone. Nothing but a soft breeze that gently blew her curtains to and fro. 

She dreamed vividly, always has, ever since she was a child. She dreamt in vivid technicolor, often adorned with peacock feathers and lotuses. 

Sometimes she had nightmares. Nightmares that she was still stuck at home, with her father who watched her too closely, who scared her more than any Grecian monster she’d ever faced. On those nights she woke up screaming, thrashing. Sometimes she was lonely, never having a roommate at camp, but when she had her nightmares she was glad no one else was there to witness them.

And rarely- very rarely, she dreamt of the future. Just tiny, small glimpses. Like before Richie, Stan and her were given their quest, she dreamt of Mr. P sitting in his office, face serious but kind, and all he said was ‘quest’- short and sweet, that one was. Other times their vague, Bev not able to make sense of them until they happen (or never at all). But she’s never had a dream quite like this.

She stood on a mountain, one so tall she could see everything. It was silent. Peaceful. She could feel the gentle breeze against her skin. She closes her eyes and breathes in deep, she expects the smell of fresh air, unpolluted. Instead she breathes in a nose full of sulfur. She opens her eyes, choking and gasping as smoke fills her lungs- the ground shakes below her feet, almost throwing her to the ground. Bev barely managed to keep steady, and she turns around, away from the vast horizon and towards the mountains peak. 

Smoke billows out like nothing she had ever seen before, storm clouds form above but they’re quiet for the moment, and everything is still, the only sound coming from Beverly, who is still struggling to catch her breath. 

_ BOOM _!

Bev screams, a curdling sound, as the mountain erupts, red hot lava pouring out and Bev is sure she’ll be burned alive- but she’s whisked away in the explosion, her whole body twisting and turning before she ends up on her hands and knees in darkness. She gasps for air, tears streaming down her face. 

After a moment of catching her breath, her heart seizes up with terror. She knows there’s something in front of her, she _ knows there is _-

She looks up, nothing but a pair of yellow eyes, as large as a house, stares down at her like she was nothing but an ant. Bev wants to get up and run, run away but she’s paralyzed with fear. Her hands and arms are shaking so badly that she’s afraid she’ll collapse to the ground. And the worst thing was, was that she couldn’t look away. 

Suddenly in the darkness grows a smile- but it wasn’t exactly a smile, it was the smile of something that had caught it’s prey. With three rows of razor sharp teeth, opening wide, almost devouring her- Bev closes her eyes.

The pain she expects to come never does. 

”My sweet daughter.” 

She knew that voice, she’d know it anywhere. She opens her eyes again and she’s bathed in golden light, the scent of lotuses filled the space, her mother standing before her. She finally felt safe. She had long curly red hair, like Bev before she cut it. She wore a typical white Grecian gown, with a peacock feathered cloak. Her green eyes look down on her with such tenderness that Bev wants to cry tears of relief. She hadn’t seen her mother in a while. 

“My little lion, this is important. Listen and trust.” Her mother says, her voice soft but firm.

“Mom-“ her voice cracks even though she’s whispering. Hera reaches down, kneeling in front of Bev, who was still on her hands and knees, her soft hands cup Bev’s cheeks, her thumb gently brushing away a stray tear. 

“_Shhhh, _” she cooed. “Remember I am always watching over you, my perfect little lion.” Hera says it with such fondness that Bev’s heart swells with a mix of emotions- pride, that her mom cared for her so much. Relief that she was away from those yellow eyes, she knew that Hera would protect her, always. 

Bev nods because she _ does _know. 

Hera gives her one last smile, before she vanished as well. 

And Bev is back at camp. More specifically, she was in front of the door that lead to the Oracle. The door creaks open, and Bev doesn’t feel fear, not here. Not at camp. She steps in confidently, and in an instant she’s in front of what looks like a dried out mummy, but Bev can feel who she is. 

“Beverly Marsh, listen closely.”

Bev takes another step forward, even though the voice is omnipotent. 

“_The son of Death, remains untold, _

_ Three trials he cannot face alone. _

_ The martyred son of Mars makes his last stand, _

_ Only to fall to the tricksters hand. _

_ Seven united or die as one, _

_ To defeat the evil that claims its won. _

_ Sky and Earth together fight better, _

_ To defeat Earth’s last storm forever.” _

Beverly’s eyes snap open, she’s in her dorm room, by herself. She takes in a shuddering breath, looking around at her surroundings for just a moment, grounding herself back in reality. Then she dives for the journal she kept beside her bed, hastily scratching down the words the Oracle told her, then after that she writes down what she remembers, and she’s not a good artist but she does her best to draw the volcano and the terrible yellow eyes. 

She grabs her phone, silently lamenting that it was barely twelve in the morning, before sending two texts. 

Not twenty minutes later she hears familiar whispering from just outside her window, followed by grunts. 

“Why are you so fucking heavy--”

“I’m not heavy, idiot, you’re just weak.” 

It puts a smile on Bev’s face, seeing her two friends after her nightmare (slash prophecy). Bev lived on the second level, making it a little harder to sneak in through her window. Thankfully Richie had winged shoes. 

Richie hovered behind Stan as he climbed through first. Richie was right behind him. “Why don’t you have to have a roommate?” Richie asked, looking at the empty bed across from her. “Forever alone, huh?” Richie jokes, he didn’t really mean it, Bev knew. He hadn’t even really looked at her yet, and Bev was pretty cryptic over her text. 

Stan elbows him hard in the stomach, clearly reading the room better, looking at her. 

Bev sat on her bed, in the corner. She had to keep her light off, lest a teacher caught her with two boys in her room, but she kept her phone unlocked. The blue light illuminated from the screen, bathing the room in an eerie white. She knew she probably looked like shit, she tried to clean herself up after everything, but she was too spooked to head to the bathroom that was a couple of doors down. 

“Holy shit- what happened?” Richie asked, hurriedly taking a seat on the bed, by Bev’s side, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. Stan also looked concerned, taking a seat on the edge of the bed, near Bev’s feet. 

Bev opened her journal to the page she had just written in and described what she saw when she was done, Richie sat slack jaw, Stan stared at her comforter with a puzzled, thoughtful expression. 

“What the fuck.” Richie said, clearly dumbstruck. Stan and Bev nodded. 

“Should we tell someone?” Stan asks, lifting his head to look at Bev and Richie.

“Who would we tell?” Asks Richie, Stan shrugs.

“I don’t know- Mr. P?” 

Bev shakes her head, her eyes going over the prophecy. “The thing about prophecies and quests, is that they’re given to the people who need to know.” She could tell that Stan wanted to protest, but he purses his lips instead. “All I know is that this isn’t just a normal prophecy.” 

“What do you mean?”

“I mean-” she sighs, “I mean, I get visions sometimes. Not often, and they’re usually not very clear or have a lot of meaning, but this was way more than that. That thing that I saw- it was like evil incarnate. It wasn’t just scary- it was terrifying. I thought I was going to die.” Bev wasn’t exaggerating. When she saw the rows of terrible teeth, teeth sharper than any knife, she thought it was the end for her. 

“Do you think that was part of the prophecy?” Asks Stan. “Do you think that that’s what it means when it says ‘_ To defeat the evil that claims its won’ _?” 

“Maybe?” Bev says, then she groaned. “Prophecies are worse than riddles! At least riddles can be solved, prophecies are cryptic- more of a warning of the future.” 

“So, what? We’re supposed to fight something like that?” Stan asks, his voice is sharper than usual, his grey eyes like steel as he looks at Bev and Richie for an answer. “That’s what it’s telling us, right?” He sounded pissed off- and Bev wasn’t necessarily surprised. She remembers a week ago, when Mr. P gave them their quest (a simple sounding quest that did not come with a life or death prophecy that foretold their potential death), how Stan didn’t want to come at first. Stan sounded scared.

“We’re demigods, Stan.” Bev says to Stan softly. “This is what we do. We get quests and we complete them.” ‘_ Or we die trying _’ is left unspoken. Stan looks back at the comforter, picking at a stray thread. It was quiet for a minute.

“‘_ Seven united, or die as one _’... There’s only three of us.” He mutters, and Bev feels a little relieved. She was half expecting him to refuse to help.

They all huddled together around Bev’s journal looking at the prophecy. “‘_ The son of Death _’... could that be-”

“Hades has a halfblood.” Richie says. 

“And do you think they’re here? Like, at this school with us?” Bev asks. Richie shrugs. 

“Must be, right? We were sent here to find a halfblood that was powerful…” He trails off, thinking. 

“That makes four.” Stan says. 

“Maybe there’s three more halfbloods here?” Bev supplies, thinking.

“And what about this line; ‘_ The martyred son of Mars makes his last stand’ _son of Mars? Like, Ares?” Stan asks, pointing to the line he was talking about. Bev thought for a moment, she knew that the Greek Gods had Roman names as well, but why not just say Ares?

They spent almost the entire night like that, dissecting the prophecy, coming up with different ideas about what meant what- but it was hard. They had almost nothing to go on. 

“We just have to find the son of Hades before whatever trials that are going to happen, happen.” Bev says, checking the clock. It was nearly five in the morning. Richie lets out a loud yawn, stretching his arms above his head. “You two should head back to your dorm before someone catches you here.” 

“Aw, Bev’s protecting our reputations- how thoughtful!” Richie says, clasping a hand over his heart. Bev rolls her eyes, but smiles.

“Get out of her, you buffoons.” 

The two boys left the way they came, Richie carried Stan down, this time on his back. 

And Bev was alone, again. She sighed, sitting back down on her bed. She should try to sleep, earn back some of the hours she lost. But everytime she closed her eyes she saw those eyes, staring at her, unblinking. She tried to think of anything else, like her mom’s warm hands around her face- but the terror felt so real. 

Instead Bev grabs her shower pack and heads to the bathroom, hoping the warm water would ease away her fears.

* * *

Stan found out he was a halfblood not even four months ago. It was the end of Sophomore year, and it had been a shitty one, he hadn’t been a stranger to jumping from school to school, his family moved around a lot, and even though they never said it, Stan had always figured it was because of him.

Stan had always done his best to blend in, to become one of the crowd. He had no desire to be the center of attention, he was fine when people’s eyes looked through him, never at him. But somehow trouble always _ found _him. 

So Bev’s prophecy? Not really a surprise. No, he was done being surprised by things that was seemingly out of his control and in the hands of destiny. But that didn’t mean he was happy about it, or was okay with it. 

He came to Camp Halfblood at the start of summer. After being chased down by a giant spider in Central park. He couldn’t do anything but run from it, somehow avoiding not only him being hurt, but other people as well. He thought he was a goner, until the spider was shot dead with glittering arrows. It was Mike, who he found out later was a son of Apollo, that helped escort him to camp. 

Stan would never admit so out loud, but he was ashamed of running away. It was like an instinct, one he was fighting at that very moment. He could easily call his dad, tell him he was coming home. 

But he was (somehow) the son of Athena. And he didn’t want to let her down again. 

So he sat in Physics, one of his first classes of the day, bone tired. He didn’t get any sleep, even though he had a couple of hours in between Bev’s room and first period. His mind raced, thinking through the prophecy that he had now memorized. Part of it scared him, but the other part was excited at the possibility of solving it, like it was a complicated puzzle. 

He usually wasn’t one for zoning out teachers, but today was different. He was so engrossed in the prophecy that he had practically missed every word the teacher spoke, not even realizing that she had stopped speaking entirely, as the class broke out into chatter. 

“H-hey,” 

Stanley tapped the pen he was using to take notes on the prophecy as he thought about the third line. He didn’t know how literal prophecies tended to be, considering he didn’t have any other to go off of. 

“Hello?”

But Stan was sure that it meant a son of Aries, though he was confused as to why the prophecy would use his Roman name. He had done a bit of research when he and Richie had gotten back to their room, and Mars was worshiped differently in Rome than he was in Greece. Maybe it had something to do-

“Hey!” A sharp voice startles him out of his thoughts, he looks up at the person and is met with an amused expression, blue eyes narrowed with mirth (his eyes were the kind of blue that looked like the sky on a sunny day, Stan noticed). “S-sorry, didn’t mean to scare y-you.” He doesn’t sound too sorry, and it’s okay because Stanley wasn’t scared.

“Um, sorry. I wasn’t really paying attention.” Stan replies, and the other boy chuckles.

“I could t-tell. The teacher w-wants us to pair up for a project.” 

Stan glances around, and his statement seemed true, as everyone else was now in pairs. Stan nods, “Oh, okay. So, what are we doing?” 

Stan eventually finds out that his name is Bill, and he explains that they had to go through a worksheet of problems. They were able to get through them fairly fast, Stan answering most of the questions, but it wasn’t for Bill’s lack of trying. 

“Wow, how are you so g-good at this kind of stuff?” Bill asks with a smile, and suddenly Stan feels a little bashful because it’s not like he was actually good at it, the problems just weren’t that difficult. 

Stan shrugs, “I don’t know.” He says with an awkward chuckle. They got done pretty quickly, there was still fifteen or so minutes left of class. “I’ll go turn this in?” Bill gave him a nod, and Stanley stood to turn in their worksheet, the teacher giving him an impressed smile (which Stan doesn’t return), when he goes to sit back down, his heart drops a bit. Bill is peering over, looking at Stan’s open notebook. 

Staring at the prophecy. Suddenly Stan feels really stupid, because who leaves their notebook open for the world to see? (Apparently him). He sighs inwardly, before making his way over. 

Bill looks up at his approach, and he doesn’t even look guilty, just gives him another smile. “Is this your poem?” 

Stan feels relieved, because of course he wouldn’t just automatically know it was a prophecy that kind of foretold the end of the world. Stan sits back down and closes the notebook (ignoring Bill’s frown). 

“Yeah, it’s not really that good, sorry.” Bill shakes his head, disagreeing.

“No way, Stan. I thought it was really cool.” His blue eyes flitted back down to the closed notebook, then back to Stan. “I really liked the last part. Y’know, a-about the sky and earth? Very poetic.” 

Stan breathed out a laugh, mostly because this was the first time he’d ever really been complimented on something, and of course it was something he didn’t even create (props to the Oracle, though. She apparently made really great poetry). “Thanks.” He mutters. 

Stanley managed to steer the conversation away from the poem, and they talked until class was over, grabbing their things and making their way out. “What class do you have next?” Bill asks him. 

“IB History.”

“Cool, I-I have class over there, too. We can walk together.” And Stan is too shocked to do anything else but nod. “You just transferred, right?” He waits for Stan to nod. “Where did you transfer from?”

Stan opened his mouth to reply, but instead his shoulder makes contact with someone and he’s being shoved hard, his back crashing into a row of lockers behind him. 

“Watch where you’re fucking going.” The guy who shoved him is big, with brown hair and tanned skin. He wears a sleeveless shirt (even though it was nearing October and was getting fairly cold out) and dirty, ripped jeans (that is definitely against the dress code, Stan would know, he memorized it). Curiously, Stan notices something that looks like a tattoo on the inside of his arm, five small, vertical lines all in a neat row, resembling a bar code. 

There’s three guys behind him, staring at him menacingly, daring him to speak out. 

Bill is in front of him, suddenly. “You r-ran into him, Bowers.” Bowers. He remembers Bev mentioning them at lunch almost a week ago. She said they were bullies. This guy must have been the de facto leader of the gang. 

Bowers laughs, big and ugly, throwing his head back. His followers cackle along, too. “You hear that, boys? B-b-big B-b-b-bill is protecting his b-b-b-boyfriend! Fucking adorable!” Stanley wants to punch him, he realizes, as he watches him exaggerate Bill’s stammer. There’s a crowd forming, Stan can see, and he wishes a part of being a child of Athena came with the power of invisibility, he can feel dozens and dozens of eyes on him. 

Bill is brave, he doesn’t seem to notice or care about the crowd of teens gathered around them, he steps closer to Bowers, and from what Stan can see of Bill’s face, it’s scrunched up in anger. “Fuck y-you.” He can tell that Bill gets frustrated at himself, for the stammer, as it only makes Bowers and his friends laugh. Bill gets more tense, and Stan can see his right arm lifting.

“Bill, it’s fine-” He reaches out to grab Bill’s shoulder and is shocked, slightly. Bill must feel it too, because he glances back at Stan, who tries, and succeeds, at putting his hand on Bill’s shoulder. Static electricity, Stanley notes. “Let’s go, I don’t want to be late.” Bill’s eyes go from Stan’s shoulder and back to his face before nodding. He sends one last glare to Bowers and his thugs before they nudge themselves through the crowd and continue down the hallway.

“Sorry about them.” Bill mutters, once they make their way away from the crowd. Stan looks over at Bill, who keeps his eyes on his feet. He looks small, now. Smaller than he did before. It was a weird look on him. “That asshole o-only did that because you w-were walking with me.” Stan shrugs.

“It’s fine, really.” Bill looks up, his brows furrowed. 

“‘Fine’? He shoved you into a l-locker, Stan.” Stanley chuckled humorlessly.

“I’m tougher than I look, I swear.” Bill just looks at him, assessing him like he doesn’t believe him. And- fair enough. Stan knows he looks weak- but he is the son of a Goddess. His looks don’t change that. “Listen Bill, I’ve been picked on my whole life. One asshole isn’t going to scare me.” Bill still doesn’t look convinced, his face practically screamed guilt. “What’s his problem, anyways? Didn’t think they let people like him into places like this.” Bill chuckles.

“I dunno. He just hones in on people, you know? I think his parents a-are friends with the Principal, or something. He can practically do whatever he wants around here, and he knows it.” Stan grunts in acknowledgement, Bill sighs. “I-I just w-wish he w-w-wo-w- _ fuck _.” He stops walking, and so does Stan. Bill puts a hand over his mouth and breathes in deep and angry through his nose. 

“It’s okay, Bill.” Stan says. “I never even noticed, honestly.” Bill seems to relax a bit at that, taking his hand away from his mouth, he smiles slightly, at Stan. 

“Y-you should’ve heard me when I was a kid. I could barely get through a sentence.” Bill laughs, and Stan smiles back. “This is my stop, see you later, Stan?” He says it like a question, and for once Stan doesn’t feel pressured or weird, he just nods. 

“See you later, Bill.” Bill smiles and goes into his classroom. 

* * *

There was an hour long lunch break that started at noon. Usually Richie would take that time to you know, eat, but Richie had a plan to enact today. 

First he had to track down one Eddie Kaspbrak, which wasn’t really that hard. He usually ate lunch in the dining hall which was- surprise! Exactly where he was today. He looked better than he did before the weekend, Richie noticed happily. The color was back in his cheeks and the bruises were gone from underneath his eyes. 

He sat with Bill, and the two chatted merrily. Richie sat some tables down, hiding behind his backpack that he lifted onto the table and put in front of him. He was biding his time, waiting for Eddie to (hopefully) leave the dining hall alone and not with Bill. About twenty minutes into lunch, Eddie stood with his empty tray, he says something to Bill, who says something back, and Eddie leaves. 

Sweet, just what he wanted. Richie places himself the appropriate distance behind Eddie and follows while trying not to feel like a weird stalker (he had a plan!). 

Eddie placed earbuds in, messing with his phone as he walked through the campus, eventually wandering to a rather deserted area, near the lake. 

Richie sent a quick thank you prayer to his dad, thanking him for his brilliantly good luck because so far everything had gone perfectly. 

The next step in his plan was the actual important part- there wasn’t much to this step. Generally, there are signs when someone is a halfblood. Of course, some of the signs depended on who exactly their Godly parent was- for example, Richie’s always been really good at stealing. He had often been in trouble for having sticky fingers when he was a kid and didn’t really know any better (his mom and step-father would find comics and action figures in his room while cleaning, he was too good to be caught while _ actually _stealing). But with Eddie, Richie didn’t see anything outright that would point to who his father was- assuming it was his father, since he saw his mother picking him up from school last Friday. 

So step two in the plan? Force Eddie to show his powers. Then they would not only know he was a halfblood for sure, but also potentially who his father was. 

Richie took a deep breath, “show me what you’re made of, Eds.” He whispered before sauntering over to the bench Eddie currently sat on. Eddie didn’t see him coming, clearly, as he sat down and reaches over and plucks an earbud out of his ear, putting it into his own. 

“What are ya listening to, Eds?” Eddie starts, looking over at Richie- he looked startled for a moment before realizing who it was, and then his hazel eyes narrowed into a glare. “Holy shit--” Richie chuckles as he hears what Eddie was listening to. “Fall Out Boy-?” Eddie was distracted, so Richie used his distraction to his own advantage. 

Pick pocketing was child's play (literally), but sliding a ring off a finger? A little bit more of a challenge, but not impossible. Eddie hastily snatches the earbud away from Richie, while Eddie’s attention was diverted, Richie eyed the black onyx ring on his other hand- Eddie had small fingers, the ring easily slid over his knuckle. Richie pocketed it, grinning. 

“Give it back asshole! I can’t even believe you put this into your ear that’s fucking disgusting-” Eddie rambles, staring at his soiled earbud in disgust. 

“It’s not even their good shit!” Richie laughs again. Eddie flushed slightly,

“Shut the fuck up, I’m sure all you listen to is fucking Metallica and- and Foo Fighters.” His words lacked heat, and Richie could even swear he saw a ghost of a smile. 

“I don’t hear anything wrong with what you just said, Eddie Spaghetti.” 

“_ Ew- _ what did you just call me?” Eddie grimaced, taking out his other earbud and putting it away. 

“What, you didn’t like it, Spaghetti head?” Richie laughed at the face Eddie was making. 

“Just, stop.”

“Well your mom liked it when I called her that last night.” 

“You’re so _ hilarious _, dickhead.” Eddie shoved him lightly, Richie went with it, laughing. Eddie was too easy to make fun of. 

Richie took the black ring out of his pocket, examining it. “Hey, so, what size ring are you? This is fucking tiny.” Eddie’s eyes flick from Richie’s face to the ring in his has, the smile falls from his face and he lunges for the ring, but Richie was faster, closing his fingers and leaning away. 

“Give that back!” 

Richie is on his feet, holding the ring in his hand above his head, Eddie jumps to try and get it back, but even he knows a losing battle when he sees it.

“This isn’t fucking funny, asshole.” Eddie looks like he’s barely controlling his fury, Richie can see his chest quickly rising and falling, his face drained in color as he stared at Richie’s closed hand, which held his ring. 

“I dunno, Eds, I thought it was a good joke- I was even going to add it into my stand up routine.” Eddie wasn’t listening, clearly. He lunges again for Richie’s hand, and Richie has to applaud him for his tenacity, but really. Richie had like, five inches on the guy. “What’s so important about it, anyways?” 

Richie opens his hand, looking at his palm where the ring lays. It’s a simple band made from black onyx. Small and unobtrusive, but… there was something off about it. It had an unnatural glint and heaviness to it, that didn’t feel right. And the longer it sat in his palm, the more wrong it felt. 

“I said give it back!” It was Richie’s own fault for breaking his own rule and getting distracted, not seeing Eddie charge him. To be fair, even if he wasn’t distracted, he wasn’t sure that he’d have been prepared for what happened. 

It happened quickly, Eddie yelling at him, the ground shaking beneath him and the next thing he knew, he was on his back, lying on the ground, groaning. He must hit his head on impact because_ fucking ow _. “Fuuuuuuck.”

“Ohmygodohmygodohmygod-” He can hear Eddie vaguely in the background, behind the annoying ringing sound in his head. “I didn’t- what was- _ Richie _!” And Eddie is at his side. Richie opens his eyes, only to find his glasses are gone, the world an unfocused blur. “Are you okay? Are you alive- I don’t even know what-”

“Eddie.” Richie says with a groan, the ringing was gone thankfully, so he probably didn’t have a concussion. Eddie stops his rambling, listening to Richie intently. “D’you see my glasses?” 

“Yeah, just a sec!” Richie can see the blurry outline of Eddie scrambling a few feet away. “Oh… sorry, Richie.” Eddie says, handing him his glasses. Richie puts them on, and understand what he’s talking about. The left lens was cracked- still in, thankfully, but cracked. Richie looks over at Eddie, who looks terrified. 

“Eh, it’s fine. Makes me look like a badass.” Richie says with a shrug and a smile, hoping it’ll calm Eddie down (he’s breathing so fast Richie thinks he might faint). 

“Richie what the fuck did I just do- I don’t, I was so mad because you were being an asshole, and I just- I didn’t mean to hurt you, and you just went fucking flying- flying! Into the air! Was that me! _ Holy shit _-”

“Woah- breathe, Eds.” Eddie is speaking so fast that Richie can hardly understand him, his breathing is rapid, there are unshed tears in his eyes and Richie is pretty sure he’s having a panic attack. Richie feels incredibly guilty, if it wasn’t for him, Eddie wouldn’t be so freaked out. 

“I don’t- Richie, my mom is going to kill me or fucking put me in super power jail- oh my fucking god, am I going to jail Richie?!” 

“Eddie, I need you to slow down and breathe.” Richie puts both hands onto his shoulders, before sliding them up to cup the sides of Eddie’s face. “You’re going to be fine, Eds.”

“Nothing about this is fine! I’m a fucking freak!” A tear slips out, sliding down his cheek.

“What’s so wrong about that?” Richie asks, softly. One of Eddie’s hands clasps around Richie’s wrist, but he doesn’t pull Richie away, just keeps it there. “What’s so _ good _about being normal, Eddie?”

Eddie takes a shaky breath, his breathing finally slowing down. “Everything…” He whispers, his voice cracking and Richie’s heart practically breaks for him. Richie doesn’t know what to say, so for once he doesn’t say anything. He just watches as Eddie regains his composure. 

“I’m okay now.” He says quietly, and Richie nods, reluctant to pull his hands away, gently, he swipes a tear away with his thumb, then he finally takes his hands away, putting them in his own lap. They’re quiet for a minute or two, then Eddie speaks, “how are you so calm about this? I… I don’t know what I did, but I could’ve really hurt you, Richie.” 

“C’mon, Eds! You don’t think I can handle a psychic blast or whatever the fuck that was?” He nudges him with his shoulder, trying to get Eddie to at least smile. He feels like a million bucks when Eddie gives him a small one. Richie clears his throat, “but, uh, if I’m being serious, it’s because you and I are the same.” Eddie looks at him, eyebrow raised. 

“You… you can do that, too?” His voice is full of hope. Richie shakes his head,

“That-?” Richie looks over at the small crater in the ground, “Nah, you’re special, Spaghetti man. But! Other than being sexy as fuck? I’m pretty good at thievery-”

“Your superpower is fucking stealing? That’s so lame.” Eddie jokes, Richie can’t help but smile. 

“_ Ouch _! I got loads of powers, dude, I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.” He wiggles his eyebrows at Eddie who laughs.

“Shut up, trashmouth.”

“But, uh. You’re gonna want to hold onto your seat for a few minutes here, bud.” Eddie looks at him.

“What could be anymore jarring than the revelation that I have fucking superpowers- god, I sound like such an idiot when I say that…” 

“You don’t sound like an idiot. But just wait, you’re probably going to wish it was just superpowers.” Eddie furrowed his brows, but nodded at him to continue. “You’re a demigod, Eddie!” Richie says with a terribly bad British accent. Eddie scoffs,

“What the fuck?” 

“I’m serious! Okay, so you know Greek Gods, right?” Richie asks hastily, trying to not lose Eddie’s attention (most people surprisingly didn’t take it super seriously when told that they were demigods). Eddie nods.

“Like, Zeus and Poseidon?”

“Exactly! So, get this- one of them is your dad!” Richie exclaims, Eddie pulls back.

“Either Zeus or Poseidon is my dad? That’s stupid, Richie.” He shakes his head. 

“No- I mean, maybe? I don’t know who your dad is-”

“That’s because my dad died when I was a baby.”

“That’s what I mean!” Richie says, and Eddie makes another face, clearly not following Richie’s train of thought, which. Okay, maybe Richie wasn’t explaining it well enough (he went through this all in his head for the whole weekend, but of course nothing he said in his mind actually made it out of his mouth). “Okay- sorry, let me backup. You said your dad died when you were a baby?” Eddie nods. “Alright, well how did he die?”

Eddie looks thoughtful for a moment, considering. “Cancer, I think.” 

“Okay, and have you ever, I don’t know, seen pictures of him? Videos maybe, from before he died?” Richie asks excitedly, leaning forward as Eddie thinks. He shakes his head after a moment,

“No… no, I don’t think so. My mom, she- well. She doesn’t like to talk about him, she gets… weird, whenever I bring him up, so I stopped.” 

Richie snaps his fingers, “See! Suspicious, right?” Eddie rolls his eyes,

“So what? My mom is weird and secretive! You’ve never met her, she can be obsessive-” Yeah, Richie got that vibe from when he followed Eddie a few days ago. “That doesn’t mean my dad is a fucking Greek God!” Eddie says with an exasperated laugh.

“So you can shoot people off of the ground, you can accept that, but you draw the line at Greek Gods being a thing?” Richie asks, Eddie shakes his head.

“It’s not that-”

“Then what is it?”

“The idea that_ I _ could be a son of a god? It’s unbelievable, Rich.” He’s looking down at his hands now. Richie furrows his brows,

“Why, Eds?”

“Don’t call me that.” Richie almost laughs. Eddie looks at him. “I’m just… me. I don’t know.” Richie opens his mouth to reply, but Eddie cuts him off. “If you said you’re like me, then who’s your- your fucking Godly mom or dad?” 

“Guess!” 

“I don’t want to fucking guess, just tell me-”

“No way, take a shot Eds.”

“Oh my god you’re such a five year old- _ fine _.” He takes a moment, looking at Richie up and down and suddenly Richie is feeling all self conscious, which gross. So he looks at the ground, instead of at Eddie. “If I had to guess… I’d say Hypnos.” Richie looks at him, surprised.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, because this conversation is putting me to fucking sleep, dickhead.” And Richie laughs so hard he thinks he pulls something, he claps a hand on Eddie’s back, who is smiling too. 

“Fine, fuckface. My dad is Hermes.” Eddie looks at him again.

“Hermes? _ Hmm _.” He hums, thoughtful for a moment. “I don’t know a lot of Greek mythology- is it even mythology? I don’t even know, haha. But, say I believe you- not saying I do, because this is all fucking ridiculous- but hypothetically, if I believed you, what’s next? Does my so called Godly dad come down from Olympus and bless me or something?” 

“It’s… complicated.” Richie says after a moment. Normally, they’d get the fuck outta dodge and head to camp halfblood to avoid the risk of any potential monsters, but. There was the whole issue of that fucking shitty prophecy. One that promised the end of the world unless they (and the unfound halfbloods) join together to fight it- whatever _ it _was. 

Eddie’s looking at his hands, he blinks, looking over at him. “Did you drop my ring?” He only sounds slightly panicked, which is a decent improvement. Richie looks around,

“It must have flown out of my hand when you exploded the ground-” 

“Can you just help me look for it, please?” 

“Looking for this?” 

Eddie and Richie both whip their heads around, there, about a dozen or so yards away, stands a guy, maybe a year or so older than them. He has greasy black hair, and was tall and thin, he was grinning, a smile so slimy Richie wanted to take a bath. In his hand he holds a small, black onyx ring. 

“Who the fuck are you?” Richie asks, because honestly. Richie was clearly in the middle of something here. 

“Hockstetter.” Eddie whispers from beside him, eyeing Hockstetter suspiciously. “He’s just an asshole-” He glances around, “but usually he has friends.” 

Hockstetter takes a couple of steps forward, casually. He breathes in deep, “Ah, I thought I smelled something good.” His eyes were on Eddie, Richie instinctively takes a step forward, putting himself in front of the smaller boy. Hocktetter’s eyes go to him instead. Richie had a feeling this guy wasn’t what he appeared to be. “You’ve been using this to hide from us, Kaspbrak. Tsk, tsk.” 

Well, that was all the confirmation Richie needed. Richie grabbed the chain on his neck that kept his sword, and tugged it off, holding it out he yells its name; “Skyla!” And the sword expands, filling his grasp. Skyla was made from Celestial Bronze, he received it as a gift from his father when he was ten.

From behind him, he can hear Eddie gasp. “What the fuck, Richie!”

“Eds, you gotta stay behind me, okay?” 

“What, are you going to fucking stab him?”

“Yup!” Then Richie charged ahead, sword at the ready. Clearly this creep was a monster, but if he was a mortal the sword would pass right through him, and no harm done. 

Hockstetter, however, didn’t look afraid, even as Richie tapped into his advanced speed. When Richie was in striking distance, he lifted Skyla, aiming for his neck- and slashed.

“Are you fucking serious?” Richie groaned. Somehow, Hockstetter got a grip on Richie’s. His eyes had changed, they were larger and bright green, the pupil elongated. Hockstetter grins, his lips stretching far too wide than they should, a forked tongue slithers out of his lips. He opens his mouth and Richie can see fire bubbling in the back of his throat. “Fuck-!” He kicks a foot hard into Hockstetter’s chest, separating them. 

Richie backs up a few steps, still holding his sword in front of him. He glances behind him, making sure Eddie is okay- and he is, he also looks completely disturbed, but that doesn’t surprise Richie. 

Hockstetter laughs, it was guttural and jarring. His bones crack and his joints pop as he transforms from his human form and into a giant fucking snake, roughly 8 feet tall.

“What the fuck!” Eddie yells behind him, and if Richie hadn’t seen worse, he’d be inclined to agree. 

“Eddie, stay back!” Richie yells, not taking his eyes off of the monster.

“Uh, yeah! No shit!” 

And the monster charges at him, breathing fire. Richie ducks to the side, easily. He uses his godly speed to help him run to the side of the monster, he raises his sword and prepares to strike once more- but Hockstetter’s snake face is in front of him (fuck snakes and their triple jointed bullshit), fire spewing from its fanged mouth. 

“Shit!” Richie curses, maneuvering out of the way as best he could, the monsters fire radius was large, unfortunately, catching Richie on the shoulder. Richie lands on the ground, and rolls- just able to avoid being bitten by the snake. 

“Richie!” Eddie yells, Richie spares him a glance and he’s looking at him like Richie’s going to die (which, probably not, Richie was an experienced halfblood who just hasn’t been in real combat in a while). 

“I’m fine!” It hurt like a bitch, of course, but he couldn’t really feel it, not with the adrenaline coursing through his veins. 

Unfortunately, Eddie’s yelling caught the snakes attention. It turned, and headed for Eddie. “Wait-!” Richie, still on the ground, got back up to his feet and chased after the monster.

“Holy shit-!” Eddie dodged an attack (thank Zeus).

“Do the thing you did before!” Richie yells,

“I don’t know _ how _I did that!”

Richie clicks his heels and his chucks grow wings, he flies up and over the snakes head as it’s aiming another strike at Eddie who (bless his soul) was running for his life. “Take this, motherfucker!” He slashes down, hitting the back of its neck. The giant snake screams, and Richie feels so good about hitting it, he doesn’t see it’s giant tail in time- it smacks him out of the air like he’s a fly, and he hits the ground _ hard _, face first. 

“Richie!” He hears Eddie yell, and suddenly the ground his shaking like it was earlier- but much, much worse. Richie manages to pull himself off the ground and onto his hands and knees, spitting out a mouth full of blood (he’s pretty sure his nose is broken). Thankfully his glasses are fine. 

He looks over at Eddie, who looks _ angry- _like, more mad than he’d seen him before kind of angry. He looks as terrifying as he does beautiful, Richie can’t help but notice. He’s holding out an arm, and Hockstetter is looking like it’s ready to roast him alive. 

“Eddie-” He spits out more blood, “Eds, _ move _!”

But Eddie is Eddie, he is stubborn and foolish because he just stands there. Richie pulls himself to his feet, which is a lot harder when the ground is shaking like they’re in a category seven Earthquake. And then Eddie’s yelling and the ground is fucking splitting open right below the snake, it tries to slither away but it isn’t fast enough. It’s swallowed by the Earth. Then the split is sealed back up, and the shaking stops. 

Richie looks over to Eddie, who looks as pale as a ghost and his breathing heavily. “Eds?” Richie calls, and Eddie looks over at him and their eyes meet for a moment before they roll back into Eddie’s head and he’s falling- “Eddie!” And Richie is there in less than a heartbeat, catching him in his arms before he hits the ground. 

Richie feels for a pulse first, and thank fuck it’s there, strong and steady. His face is colder than it was earlier, and he still looks pale but Richie is sure he’ll be fine, probably just exhausted. 

Exhausted from opening a fucking hole in the ground to the underworld. 

Well, he figured out who Eddie’s father was. 

Motherfucking Hades. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eddie's and Bev's parents are revealed! Big shout out to RhymesandRiddles who analyzed the fuck out of the first two chapters, and totally guessed that Eddie's dad is Hades haha. For all of those guessing, if you're curious I almost had him be a son of Ares, because he's a small ball of fury, but it didn't seem grand enough to me, so here we are! 
> 
> Also, like I mentioned earlier- I'm not super familiar with PJO, so even though I am using a lot of their canon, I'll also be changing some based on the needs of the story! (aka Hera and Bev will be explained in story, but I figured that if Athena can be a Virginal Goddess with children, well so can Hera) so please be forgiving of me if I get some PJO stuff wrong :) <3
> 
> And please appreciate my prophecy, I hate poetry and it took me like three hours to write haha
> 
> Just two more to figure out! Please leave a comment, I love hearing what you guys are thinking! Thanks for reading!
> 
> As a reminder:  
Richie: Hermes  
Stanley: Athena  
Mike: Apollo  
Eddie: Hades  
Bill: ???  
Beverly: Hera  
Ben: ???


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie wakes up and Beverly makes a discovery.

Eddie heard voices. They were muffled, and quiet- like they were whispering, the whispers were quick and fast, clearly in some sort of heated argument. He was laying on something soft, probably on a bed. His head hurt, a little, but mostly he felt exhausted- like nothing else he had ever felt in his life. Like he had just run three marathons (which would’ve been something, because his mother never would’ve let him do it). 

Once he was more oriented, Eddie cracked open his eyes. The world was a blur, while his eyes adjusted, eventually his eyes focused. The first thing he noticed was the comforter that he was lying on- it was ugly, first of all. Orange and red, colors too loud for his taste. So whose bed was he on?

“Guys?” A voice said, the whispering stopped. “I think he’s awake.” And then Richie was in his face, pale and dark hair, his usual dorky glasses cracked, but he was smiling. 

“Hey, Eds? How are you feeling?” He was whispering, still. Eddie sat up on the bed, looking around the room. Two other people were with them- Stan, he recognized, sat on the other bed across the room, looking at Eddie intently, his grey eyes analyzing him. And Beverly stood near the door, one arm crossed over her stomach, the other near her mouth, her eyebrows narrowed in concern. 

“Where am I?” Eddie mutters, even though he had a feeling he already knew the answer. 

“Me and Stan’s room.” Richie said, nodding towards Stan, who gave a single nod back. Before Eddie could ask anything else, Richie opens his mouth, “Hey- what do you remember last?” 

What  _ did  _ he remember? 

He remembers Richie. He was covered in blood-  _ his whole face _ \- his burned shoulder. 

Eddie gasps, his eyes going to Richie’s shoulder which was now covered in a makeshift bandage, held together with gauze and toilet paper. Eddie reaches forward, almost touching Richie, before he catches himself and pulls his hands back, Eddie’s eyes now going to Richie’s face. Now they he was looking at him, really looking, he could see the remnants of dried blood against pale skin. His nose was a big bruise, purple and black, just looking at it made Eddie want to wince (and take a handful of Tylenol).

And then Eddie remembers Richie fighting a fucking snake monster- a snake monster that used to be that creep Hockstetter (and okay, it really shouldn’t be that surprising, all things considered). Richie flew (flew!) with his winged shoes, protecting Eddie from the fire breathing creature, but Hockstetter hit him with his tail, sending Richie face first into the dirt and-

Then what? Eddie didn’t know. He remembered being scared, for himself and for Richie. Then angry- and then nothing. 

Richie’s looking at him expectedly. “Your nose-” Eddie practically squeaked out, because really. It looked terrible. 

Richie shrugged, “Eh, my modelling career is over, but s’not so bad, Eds.” He laughed all nasally, clearly trying to lighten the mood of the room, so Eddie smiled back. Not because Eddie wanted to, but because he could tell Richie needed it. He seemed to relax a bit, his shoulders less tense. 

“Do you remember what Richie told you, before Hockstetter?” Bev asks, stepping closer to Eddie. 

Oh, that he was apparently a demigod? “How could I forget?” Eddie asks, rhetorically. At first he thought Richie was being himself- a comedic asshole, who was trying out his new material on Eddie (bad material, but none of Richie’s jokes were funny anyways). He didn’t believe him initially, but when Richie’s shoes suddenly grew wings and there was a giant fucking snake trying to kill him? Well, Eddie knew when to change teams. “Richie says he’s the son of Hermes-” Richie grins, then winces, his nose clearly causing him some pain. “Are you-?”

“I’m the daughter of Hera.” Beverly says, with a proud grin. And, wow. What a wild thing to say out loud, but Eddie believed her, she had the sort of queenly glow about her that you’d expect the daughter of Hera to have. 

“Athena.” Stan says, and Eddie wouldn’t have guessed. 

Eddie nods, not really knowing what to say. He still felt like he was in some sort of weird dream, bound to wake up literally any second now. But there he was, sitting in someone else’s bed, three demigod’s staring at him like he’s going to collapse any second now. “What now?” Because there had to be some sort of protocol, right? 

Bev sighs as Richie stands up, “now, we take you to Camp Halfblood-!”

“Richie, we talked about this.” Bev says, matter of fact. Richie rounds on her, clearly frustrated.

“Yes we did,  _ Bev _ . It’s not safe for him here!” This must have been what they were arguing about before, when Eddie was asleep. 

“I know that, Richie! But the prophecy-”

“ _ Fuck  _ the fucking prophecy!” Richie says, throwing his hands in the air and Bev looks scandalized, mouth agape. Stan drops his head in his hands. 

“Can you guys, like slow down? Please?” Eddie could feel a headache coming on, and he didn’t like to be left out of the loop. Richie drops his hands, dramatically sitting down on his bed, near Eddie’s feet. Bev crosses her arms, shoulder leaning against the wall. “What’s Camp Halfblood?” He asks the room. 

“It’s where kids like us go, to keep us safe.” Bev says. Eddie’s brows furrow,

“Safe? From what?” He asks. 

“Come on, Eds, weren’t you paying attention? You remember almost being killed by that fucking snake?” Eddie nods, ignoring Richie’s condescending tone. “Camp Halfblood keeps demigods safe while they learn how to protect themselves from monsters and shit.” Oh. It made sense, but the idea that there were so many demigods, or halfbloods or whatever they (we?) were called, that they had to make a whole camp to protect them was overwhelming. 

“And the prophecy?” It was like a cold breeze suddenly went through the small room, everyone looked away from him. 

“You should tell him.” Stan says, suddenly, looking directly at Richie, who startles.

“Me? Why the fuck should I have to!” 

“Well someone has to, it’s literally the first line in the prophecy.”

Eddie looks back and forth at them, a heavy feeling in his stomach. They were keeping something from him, something big. Something Eddie was sure he wasn’t going to like. 

Beverly sighs, “It’s about your dad, Eddie.” 

Eddie looks at her, her green eyes are looking at him with something akin to pity and Eddie hates it. “My dad?” He chokes out, eyes flitting to Richie, who is looking down at his hands instead. “Richie said I wouldn’t really know who he was until he claimed me.”

“That’s true,” she starts, softly. “However, in some cases halfblood children reveal such startling powers that it’s obvious who their parent is.” Eddie can feel his heart beating faster in his chest, Richie still won't look at him.

“But- but I didn’t do anything.” 

“You don’t remember?” Bev asks, stepping a little bit closer and suddenly Eddie is starting to feel claustrophobic. Does he remember? “Eddie, before you fainted you ripped open the Earth.” Eddie makes a face,

“What? I think I would remember tearing a fucking hole in ground!” Now this was all sounding ridiculous. He could maybe accept that he was the son of some ancient Greek God. But- saying he had the power to rip open the Earth? That was just bullshit.

“You did, Eds.” Richie is looking at him again, his eyes earnest behind his cracked glasses. “And you didn’t just earthbend some rocks or whatever- you fucking tore a hole in the ground to the Underworld. You sent Hockstetter to the pits, dude.” His breath was coming quicker in quicker, though he did his best to hide it (always did). 

“Your dad is Hades.” Stan says, always the straight shooter. 

_ And what the actual fuck _ \- that couldn’t be true, it couldn’t have been! His mom wouldn’t have. There was no way. His earliest memories of her was her freaking out over everything involving him. Forbidding him from P.E. and any sports, he wasn’t allowed to go to friends' houses (god forbid he asked to go to a sleepover). 

“Dude- what the hell?” Richie yells at Stan, but Eddie isn’t paying attention, not when the room is spinning so fast.

“What? You were taking forever! He needed to know, like a bandaid-”

Eddie reflexively reaches for his ring, but it’s not there. Then he remembers Hockstetter grabbing it- if Eddie really sent him to the Underworld, that meant that the ring was long gone. Oh God, his mother was going to  _ kill  _ him. 

_ Eddie remembers when his mother gave him that ring. He was young, a kid, maybe five or six. They had just moved from Long Island to Brooklyn, Eddie was set to attend first grade. It was at their new apartment, it was dark and a little spooky, but Eddie pretended he loved their new place, just to make his mom happy.  _

_ She called him out of his room, and gave him a box. It was small and square, a perfect black color. Eddie looked at his mom curiously before taking it. She looked eager, her lips stretched thin across her round cheeks. “Open it, Eddie-bear. It’s a gift.” _

_ So he opened it, of course. Inside was a small ring, a simple black band that glittered when it caught the light. “Wow!” Eddie has said, overjoyed. He had never gotten a gift so grown up before.  _

_ “This ring will keep you safe, sweetums. It won’t let anyone take you away from me, so you have to promise to never take it off, okay?” Eddie nodded quickly, but his mother grabbed his cheeks with one of her hands, forcing him to look at her in the eyes. “I need you to promise me, Eddie. Do you promise?”  _

_ “I promise, mommy.” Eddie had said, eager for her to let him go. She grinned, releasing him.  _

_ “That’s my little Eddie-bear!” She pinched his cheek so hard that it hurt, but he smiled anyways. After that, Eddie had made sure to always wear the ring. And not just so his mother wouldn’t be mad at him, but maybe because he also believed that he was cursed (if mythical Gods were real, that meant curses were real, too).  _

“Eddie?” Someone says his name, but he’s not paying attention. 

Eddie was sure something bad was going to happen to him (to his friends), now that his ring was gone and honestly, if what Stan said was true, if he was the son of Hades then - then  _ what _ ? “It all makes sense.” Eddie chokes out, barely above a whisper. 

“Oh no-” He vaguely hears Richie say, but Eddie stares at a fixed point on the floor. 

“All of it- my mom said I was cursed but I-I didn’t believe her, not really.” Someone puts a hand on his leg, he flinches away. “No - I didn’t believe her, not in second grade when we had to move to Queens after a-a fucking bomb or something went off in my school, killing a teacher- oh, god that was me wasn’t it? Maybe not the bomb b-but it was a monster, that was there for me- and in fourth grade, when I was almost kidnapped- a fucking cop was killed trying to get me back, I was home schooled for almost two years when that fucking happened!”

“Eddie, I need you to slow down and breathe.”

“In sixth grade when, a-another kid cornered me in the bathroom and pulled out a fucking sword!” His breathing was rapid at this point, going through the carefully cataloged list of proof he was fucked up. “You guys have to stay away from me-” 

And then Beverly filled his field of vision, her green eyes piercing. “Eddie, count to ten with me.” Her voice was calming, but it was an order, not an offer. So he nodded, she nodded back. “One,”

“One.” Eddie whispers back.

“Two,”

“Two.”

And they continue like that, until they reach ten together, her voice slow and smooth. Eddie’s calm by the end of it, his heart no longer beating out of his chest, his breathing no longer short and wheezing. “You used your mind control thing just now, didn’t you?” And Bev looks at him, surprised. “I saw you use it on Hockstetter and his friends last week.” 

“O-oh, I’m sorry-” Eddie just shrugs, waving her off. And then the room was so awkwardly quiet that Eddie just wanted to run away, go back to his and Bill’s shared dorm. “You know…” Bev starts slowly, he can feel her gaze on him and Eddie wished she wouldn’t look at him like that. Like how Stan and Richie were probably looking at him right now, too (but Eddie kept his eyes on his ringless fingers). She was looking at him as if he was made of glass. Which, to be fair, he didn’t have a good report card proving otherwise (fainting, the panic attack worked against him). “This is going to be a lot to explain, Eddie. But I know you can handle it, so,” Eddie looks up, meeting her eyes, she was smiling.

“As the son of Hades,” he tenses up a little, involuntarily. It would take a while to get used to those words. “You are powerful. More powerful than a lot of halfbloods, and with that power comes monsters who want to defeat you. That’s what all of those- those experiences were when you were younger. It’s not that you’re cursed,” ugh, her voice is so gentle that he doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “It’s that your immense power attracted a lot of attention from monsters and beasts. It happened to all of us, you know. Stan had to fight a giant spider last summer.”

He looks over at Stan who shrugs with a half smile, “it was terrifying. I did more running than fighting.” Eddie smiles back, a little. 

“I ran away from home when I was eight,” Eddie’s attention goes to Richie, who looks ridiculous, grinning with a purple and black, crooked nose. “Out ran and outfought like five monsters to make it to camp halfblood, so beat that.” Eddie snorts, because of course Richie would make it a competition. 

“It’s honestly amazing how long you’ve been able to survive on your own, not knowing you’re a son of one of the big three.” Bev says.

“Big three?” Eddie echoes.

“Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. The big three.” Stan supplies, helpfully. “They’re technically included in the twelve Olympians, which consists of Athena-”

“And Hermes!” Richie chimes in, Stan glares, but continues.

“ _ Hermes _ . Hera, of course,” Bev smiles, “Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Apollo, Artemis, Demeter and Dionysus.” Stan finishes. 

“Okay.” Eddie says after a moment, trying to take in everything. He knew the most basic things about Greek Gods, things that every kid knew from taking English in sixth grade, but beyond that he was a little clueless. “Now what?” He repeats, because he was so lost and confused. He felt like a comic book character, one where the main character just found out they had superpowers.

“Now- we bring him to camp so he’ll be safe!” Richie exclaims, arms thrown into the air. 

“ _ Ugh _ !” Bev groans, glaring at Richie. “We just talked about this! We can’t leave with him when there are other halfbloods here! Not to mention, the fact that Hockstetter, a student, just attacked you two and you got your ass handed to you-”

“Fuck off! I was doing fine, I stabbed that fucking snake in the neck! Almost decapitated the stupid thing!” Richie fires back. 

Eddie’s eyes moved back and forth like he was watching a tennis match. 

“Bev’s right, Richie, we can’t split up. The prophecy clearly states that-” Stan starts,

“You guys keep talking about a  _ ‘prophecy’-  _ what prophecy?” Eddie interrupts. They all look at him, then back at each other, Eddie rolls his eyes. “You can’t hide it from me, whatever it is. Stan said earlier that I was in the first line, or whatever, so.” Please, he wanted to add on, but refused. 

“Fair enough, you’d need to know eventually anyways.” Bev says, she bends down to her backpack that rested on the floor by her feet, quickly unzips and pulls out a small journal. Opening it to a specific page, she gently holds it out in front of Eddie. “I received a prophecy from the Oracle of Delphi not long ago.” Eddie cautiously takes the journal, looking at what was written.

“Oracles are real?” Eddie asks with a small laugh.

“Everything is real.” Stan says back.

“In the first line, she predicted we’d find you, Eddie.” Bev finishes. 

Eddie reads the prophecy a few times over, trying to make sense of it. He was mostly impressed by the fact that it rhymed. “ _ The son of Death, remains untold, _ ” he whispers, ignoring the tingling feeling he gets in his stomach. 

“You weren’t aware you were a halfblood yet.” Bev supplies, sitting next to Richie on his bed.

“For the record- I knew immediately.” Richie says smugly. Eddie can see Stan roll his eyes.

“You just thought he was good at fencing-” Stan argues. Eddie’s ears get a little red because that was not a great day for him, not to mention that he had lost to Richie- totally decimated by him, even, but Richie still thought he was  _ good _ .

“That’s why he was practically stalking you.” Bev says, her lips quirking into a smirk. Richie shoves her and she giggles,

“I wasn’t stalking him, Marsh! It’s called observations, and besides if I wasn’t there today he’d have been snake food.” Eddie doesn’t know what to think about that, really. The fact that Richie was only interested in him because he thought Eddie was a halfblood? Okay, that made sense. Of course Richie wasn’t just trying to be friends with Eddie without some sort of purpose. 

“This next line,” Eddie says and he’s pretty sure it’s completely embarrassingly obvious that he’s changing the subject, but he doesn’t really care. “ _ Three trials he cannot face alone.’  _ It’s talking about me here, isn’t it?” 

Bev nods and Eddie’s anxiety pricks, a bit. Three trials, he didn’t like the sound of that. 

“I think you just faced your first trial.” Stan chimes in, the others look at him, their interests peaked as well. “Think about it, prophecies like these are told in a linear format. Eddie was told he was one of us, and then faces his first trial- which is a fight against a monster that he needed help with, aka-  _ Richie _ .”

“That makes sense…” Bev mutters. Richie stands up and races across the room, clapping a hand on Stan’s shoulder. 

“Aw, Stan the Man’s at it again! Astounding us all with his infinite wisdom!” Stan makes a show of rolling his eyes, pushing Richie’s hand off of his shoulder, but Eddie can see a ghost of a smile on his face. “I knew there was a reason we kept you around.” Richie said with a snicker. 

“So… I have to fight two more monsters?” Eddie asks, his stomach dropping low. He had only just survived the last encounter, with Richie (who was supposed to be a well seasoned halfblood) coming out bruised and bloodied.

“We don’t know exactly what the next two trials could be.” Bev says, sensing his worry. Eddie wasn’t reassured, butterflies of dread flew around his stomach, and he felt a little sick. So he nods instead. 

“Okay, well until we find the other halfbloods we’ll have to keep an eye on him.” Stan says, Eddie snaps his head over, looking at him incredulously. 

“What, like  _ babysit  _ me?” 

Richie shrugs, “don’t think of it as babysitting, but more like… baby halfblood watching.” 

“I’m not a fucking baby, Richie!” 

“He’s not saying you are, Eddie-” Eddie doesn’t miss the glare she sends Richie’s way. “But it says in the prophecy that you literally can’t face the trials alone.” She said, voice placating him. Eddie wants to roll his eyes, remind them that he’d been just fine on his own for the last sixteen and a half years of his life, thank you very much, and he’d continue to be fine but- he couldn’t deny that Richie had been a big help. If he wasn’t there, Eddie knew he would’ve been a goner (son of Hades or not). 

Not to mention that the prophecy was terrifying. It spoke about the end of the world - like seven kids were supposed to save the Earth from whatever evil thing was trying to destroy it. It was a lot of pressure, and Eddie wasn’t sure he would be able to handle it all. 

He huffed out a sigh, then shrugged. “Fine, watch me, or whatever.” The others practically beamed at him, and Eddie looked away, his cheeks a little red. “Oh shit-” Eddie reaches for his phone that he kept in his pocket, relieved to find that it was still there. “What time is it, I gotta get to class-” 

“Pssh, don’t even worry about it, Eds.” Richie says, grinning. “You took care of it yourself, actually.” Eddie’s eyebrows furrow.

“What he’s trying to say is that when you used your powers, you inadvertently caused a minor earthquake.” Bev says. Eddie drops his phone in his lap, mouth agape. “So they cancelled class for the rest of the day.”

“I did what-!” 

“I told you, man, it was pretty cool.” Richie says with a chuckle. Eddie picks up his phone, checking the time and wow, it was later than he thought it’d be, almost three o’clock. He must have been out for a couple hours (remind him not to open a hole to the Underworld, again). He also had several missed texts from Bill, which he hastily opens. 

**Bill 12:54pm**

holy shit eddie i think there was an earthquake?? 

**Bill 12:54pm**

yep, definitely an earthquake 

**Bill 12:55pm**

I didnt know we could even have earthquakes in new york lol

im going to get georgie and make sure hes ok 

**Bill 1:15pm**

lol georgie thought it was exciting dont know where that kid gets his sense of adventure from. i think they said class is cancelled for the rest of the day meet up at the dorm for a movie day w georgie?? :))

**Bill 1:41pm**

are you ok?? did your phone die or something??

**Bill 2:00pm**

eddie cmon this isn’t funny

“Oh no.” Eddie says, guilt pooling in his stomach. 

“What?” Bev asks, Eddie gets up from the bed, ignoring the whooshing sensation he feels. 

“I have to go- where’s my backpack?” Eddie asked, looking around the small room for his bright white bag- he spotted it near the door. 

“What? You can’t go, Eddie. We literally just went through this.” Bev says, standing up after him. 

“Bill thinks I’m lying dead in a ditch somewhere, probably, so I kind of have to go back to my dorm!”

“I’ll come with you.” Richie says, stepping forward. Eddie makes a face.

“No way.” 

“Oh come on, why not?” Richie looked offended and Eddie feels a little bad because he didn’t mean it like that.

“Because Bill’s going to have his kid brother with us and you’re…” Eddie gestures to Richie, “you.” Richie’s mouth twists, like he was affronted. 

“Are you implying I’m not kid friendly, Eds?” Bev snorts into her hand, Richie gives her the finger. 

“He’s not wrong!” 

“I can go with him.” Stab says, standing up from his bed. Eddie looks at him, Eddie hardly knew Stan. They had barely exchanged words last week, and even though they had a couple of classes together they hadn’t spoken. Stan shrugs awkwardly, as of sensing Eddie’s silent judgement. “Bill and I know each other from physics. We’re friends.” 

“Oh. Okay, yeah that’s fine.” Eddie says, not willing to put up much more of a fight. If Stan wanted to come, then sure, he could come.

“What! How come he gets to go?” Richie exclaims, pouting. Eddie smirks,

“Bill literally thought you were bullying me when we first met.” Eddie says teasingly, enjoying the look of befuddlement on Richie’s face. 

“All I did was compliment you!” Eddie rolls his eyes not unfondly, swinging his backpack on and opening the door. 

“We’ll see you at dinner, seven o’clock sharp?” Bev says. 

“Of course,  _ mom _ .” Beverly rolls her eyes. 

“Stan make sure to get Eddie’s number and send it to the rest of us.” Eddie saw Stan give her a thumbs up. “Be safe, you two.”

And then Eddie and Stan are gone, the door clicking quietly behind them. Eddie pulls up Bill’s messages, cringing. Bill was going to be so pissed at him. 

**Eddie 3:03pm**

Sorry Bill, not dead! Just was hanging out with friends and my phone died, just got it charged

Eddie hit send, biting his lip nervously because he  _ hated  _ lying to his friends (well, Bill was previously his only friend, but he kind of counted Richie, Bev and Stan now, too). And he knew he had no talents at lying. 

**Eddie 3:03pm**

I’ll be there in a couple of minutes

Bill’s reply was almost instant.

**Bill 3:03pm**

>:( 

“Oh he’s so mad. Are there any special preparations for halfblood funerals? Because I think I’m going to need one.” Eddie said with a groan. Stan read the text over his shoulder.

“You can tell he’s that mad from just an emoji?” Stan asks, a smile forming in the corner of his mouth. 

“You don’t know Bill like I do.” Eddie mutters. They weren’t far from Eddie’s dorm, Stan and Richie had their room on the second floor while Eddie’s was on the first floor. So all they had to do was take the stairs down a level and walk down the hall and there they stood, in front of Eddie’s door. A white board with their names written in dry erase marker nailed to the front. 

"Hey, Eddie?" Stan says, Eddie turns his attention to the taller boy. "Bev and Richie... they don't get it, not really." Eddie raised an eyebrow, not following. "They've been at Camp for half their lives, in Richie's case. They don't really understand how... overwhelming all of this is. I mean, I found out this summer and it took a lot of convincing from Mike to get me to come with him to Camp, and that was after the giant spider." Stan says with a chuckle, and Eddie laughs lightly back. He feels less tense, now. "I guess I'm just trying to say, that if you need anyone to talk to about all of this stuff- you can talk to me."

"Thanks, Stan." Eddie says and Stan nods back. Then Eddie is faced with the looming door. He sighs,  reaching for the handle, but the door was pulled open before he even had a chance to lay a finger on it. Bill stood there, giving Eddie his best glare.

“Eddie-” He starts, but Eddie interrupts. 

“Sorry, Bill! Honest, my phone died and I-I just sort of lost track of time!” He internally groaned at how bad that sounded. Bill’s eyes narrowed, and Eddie knew that he could practically see right through him. 

“Yeah, he was in my room - sorry Bill.” Stan pipes in, Bill’s eyes travel to Stan, who is smiling apologetically. 

“S-Stan?” He says, surprised. “You guys know each other?” His blue eyes flit back and forth between Eddie and Stan. 

“Yeah, we have calc together. He was helping me out with some of the homework.” God, Stan lied like a professional, Eddie was impressed as fuck. Bill’s narrowed eyes seemed to hold on Eddie for a beat or two, but he nodded after a moment. 

“I was worried you were hurt or something.” Bill mutters, moving out of the way of the door frame, allowing Eddie and Stan to enter. “That was a b-big earthquake - thought you were going to be super freaked out, Eddie.” 

“Oh, yeah, I mean it was totally fucking weird, right?” Eddie stammers with a chuckle, looking anywhere but Bill. “An earthquake in New York is unlikely, but statistically possible, did you know that?” 

“Eddie!” Eddie’s attention snaps to Georgie, who is laying down on Bill’s bed with a laptop on his chest. Georgie was a sixth grader and Bill’s little brother. 

“Hey Georgie.” He smiled at the kid who grinned at him. 

“You’re weirdly chill about all this.” Bill says, giving him a calculated look. Eddie shrugged helplessly. 

“Pssh, you should see me on the inside, Bill! Just, totally a mess.” Bill hummed and Eddie turned back to his little brother, eager to change the conversation. “What are you watching, Georgie?” Nice, successful pivot. Eddie sat down next to Georgie as he excitedly explained what he was watching, and Eddie was thankful for the distraction. 

Eddie still felt a slight buzz in his system, not fully coming to terms with everything that had happened that day (and it wasn’t even dinner yet, fuck). He wanted nothing more than to be alone in his room and take a long nap, but he understood why the others didn’t want to leave him alone. The fact that there was a written prophecy about him ( _ him _ !) was still mind numbingly unbelievable but Eddie was slowly getting used to the idea that maybe he wasn’t as normal and forgettable as he thought he was. 

Eddie listened to Georgie babble on - the kid could talk and talk for hours if you’d let him. Watching as Bill and Stan sat on the other bed (his bed) across the room, chatting. 

“Okay, so this is the main character right here, she’s actually a double agent spy working with their enemies! She’s really cool, though.”

“That’s cool.” Eddie commented, not really paying attention. His mind was still racing, thinking about that rhyming prophecy, and the snake that happened only mere hours ago. How Richie busted his face saving Eddie’s own ass (and how Eddie was too much of an asshole to even say thank you). 

It was going to be a long day. 

* * *

“Stop pouting.” Bev says, watching Richie as he stared at the closed door, arms crossed, frown pulling at the corner of his lips. He turns and glares at her. 

“I’m not fucking pouting.” He grumbles out and Beverly has to hold in a giggle because, wow. He was totally pouting! It was adorable, honestly. 

“Then what do you call what you’re doing right now?” Bev says, nodding towards him.

“Oh, this?” He raises his hands, gesturing towards himself. “I learned this from your mother last night-” Beverly clamped a hand over his mouth, eyes narrowed into a glare.

“Shut the hell up, idiot! She’ll kill you, you know.” Beverly warned. Richie’s eyes glittered mischievously behind his cracked glasses and  _ oh my god- _ !

“You’re such an animal, Richie!” She takes her mind back, it now covered in Richie’s spit. He grins, shrugging his good shoulder. 

Beverly almost feels sympathetic, that burn was rough. She nearly had a heart attack after she arrived at his room, finding Richie, face bruised and nose crooked, scarlet blood coating the bottom of his face, and Eddie, laying delicately on Richie’s bed, face way too pale. She was scared because  _ Richie  _ looked terrified. He had stood over Eddie’s motionless body and he looked so scared. 

“Dunno why Stanley can go but I can’t - I mean, love the guy, but I wouldn’t trust him to win in a fight against a fucking dandelion.” 

Bev gives him a look, “Stan is plenty strong, Rich, just not maybe in the most conventional ways.” 

“Oof, backhanded compliment, I like your style Bev.” 

“Shut up, I mean that he’s smart. Eddie will be fine with him, stop worrying so much.”

“Me? Worried? Never!” Ah, there was the comedic deflection that Beverly was used to. 

“We need to figure out what to do with your nose.” Bev says thoughtfully, her eyes scrutinizing Richie’s face. She walks closer, lifting a hand up to it, finger pads gently brushing over the purple skin. “Does it hurt?”

“Whoa, there!” Richie says, wincing. “I’m bruised goods, Beverly, careful with the merchandise.”

“You need to go to the nurses office.” She lamented the fact that they didn’t have a healer with them - wishing, not for the first time, that Mike came along with them. But he wasn’t a year rounder, he went back home and to school after summer ended, but he would’ve been able to fix Richie right up. “Seriously, that’s a bad break you need to have it looked at.”

“Ugh,  _ fine _ .” 

“C’mon then you big baby.” She pushes him out of the room after making him change his shirt to something unburned (he settled for a rather garish brightly printed shirt that made Bev’s eyes sting), they could easily explain the broken nose as a consequence of the earthquake - oh, he tripped and fell during one of the tremors! But a burn? They had no excuse other than an eight foot tall snake monster that had masqueraded as one of the students. She was confident they would buy that one. 

Normally she’d be more cautious about being in the boys dorm, but with the ‘earthquake’ as they were calling it (not, you know, a sixteen year old boy with the powers to control earth) she was sure that teachers were rather busy at the moment.

There was something (well a lot of things, but one thing in particular) that bothered Bev about this whole situation. Eddie was clearly the target of something, the prophecy had made it clear that the son of Hades was in trouble. And that had come to pass, and Eddie had a couple of more trials to face. But  _ why _ Eddie? Sure, being the son of one of the big three was a big deal. They were rare and powerful, but (not to toot her own horn) but Bev’s mother was the queen of Olympus. Hera easily rivaled any of the big three’s power. 

There must be some motive that was just sitting under their noses, something that they were missing. “Don’t think too hard or your face will stay like that.” Richie says, snapping Bev from her thoughts. She ignores his dumb joke, 

“Richie, did Hockstetter say anything? You know, before he attacked?” They hadn’t had a chance to really talk about what happened. After Richie texted her and Stan and they raced over to his dorm, it was a lot of angry whispers about what to do next and Bev and Stan trying to patch Richie up and stop the bleeding from his nose.

Richie looked thoughtful for a moment, before opening his mouth to speak. “Yeah, he did actually. He said ‘you’ve been trying to hide from us, Kaspbrak’. And he was holding Eddie’s ring-“

“Eddie’s ring?” She echoed, Richie nodded. 

“Yeah, okay- listen.” Richie stopped walking, so Bev did as well. He has his serious face on, which didn’t happen often. “I took the ring from Eddie first, I was just trying to fuck with him, thought that if he got mad then he’d reveal his powers or something, prove he was a halfblood.” Bev has to hold back an eye roll, because what a stupid, Richie thing to do. “When I took it, it felt… weird. Kind of like smothering, maybe? And Eddie is super fucking attached to that thing, totally freaked out. After I took it from him he blasted me from the ground.”

“Holy shit…” Bev whispered, thinking she was catching onto where Richie was going. Richie nodded more fervently.

“If Eddie wore that thing everyday, and Hockstetter had no idea who he was, but when I took the ring-“

“He unleashed his power.” Bev finishes. 

“That ring was suppressing his powers” Richie concluded. “Not only that, but it was masking his halfblood presence, keeping him hidden even though he’s the son of one of the big three.” 

“Wow. So now that the ring is gone-“

“He’s going to be an even bigger target.” Richie finished. Bev bit her lip, thinking. This was a huge curveball. 

“What do we do?” She asks and Richie shakes his head, shoulders slumped. He continues on their path to the nurses office, Bev follows after him.

“I don’t fucking know, Beverly.” Oh. Richie didn’t sound great, and even though she couldn’t see his face, she imagined he looked angry. “This is way out of our league, ya know? Like, yeah! Let’s give a huge, world ending quest to three halfblood dipshits and see how it goes! Great idea!” He was mad, that much she could gather. She did think he seemed a little too calm after all the prophecy stuff, considering that he didn’t really want to go on this quest in the first place. “And why not just throw in the son of Hades, who by the way, has no idea that he practically a beacon for monsters-!” 

“Richie, you’re spiraling.” Bev says, putting a hand on Richie’s good shoulder. Richie stops his angry rant, letting out a frustrated breath. 

“I’m just being dumb, Bev, it’s okay.” Richie says, trying to placate her. Beverly didn’t think it was really okay, though, but she didn’t want to push it. Not with Richie who only so very rarely showed actual human emotion beyond his dumb jokes. So she nods and doesn’t prod any further. 

The walk to the nurses office was short and quiet after that. Most of the walk was outside so they got to witness first hand the destruction the earthquake had caused- it wasn’t too bad, thankfully. Mostly just tipped over trees and what not, but Beverly still got a chill on her spine, thinking about all the power inside Eddie’s tiny body. 

There were some benches outside of the building they needed to go into, and on one sat a familiar face. Ben sat in the sun, face buried in a book he held completely unaware of Bev and Richie. “You go ahead, Rich. I’ll catch up with you in a bit.” 

“Use protection- _ow_! I was  _ burned _ there!” She shoved his burned shoulder, not feeling bad because he deserved it. “Fine, fine I’m going, jeez.” Richie slinked passed Ben, who was so engrossed in his book that he didn’t notice Beverly walking up to him. 

The book was thick and Bev managed to catch a glimpse of the cover. She snorted, “ _ The Odyssey _ , huh?” Ben startles, dropping the book and Beverly winces sympathetically. “Sorry Ben, didn’t mean to startle you.”

“Oh, it’s fine Beverly, I just didn’t see you there.” He said with an embarrassed chuckle, picking the book up. Beverly smiles at him.

“So, you like Greek myths?” 

“Uh, yeah I guess. Um, my mom is really into the stuff so I kind of grew into it, too.” Ben shrugged, returning Beverly’s smile. He was cute, Bev decided. His face was still round, last of the baby fat that still hung around. He was tall- taller than she was, at least. She liked his eyes the best, though. The way they crinkled when he smiled - it was adorable. 

“Hmm, is that so?” She wanted to talk to him more but she was startled by the sound of loud talking- almost shouting, from not too far away. She turns away from Ben, looking down the walkway she had just come from. She can hear a sharp intake of breath from Ben behind her, but she’s too busy trying to make out what the guy is saying to look back at him. 

“That fucking dumbass deserved what was coming to him!” She recognized two of the immediately, they were the guys that were picking on Ben last week. They were each flanking the side of someone she hadn’t met before. He was tall, brown hair in the form of a seriously ugly mullet slash fohawk monstrosity, he was the one yelling. Scowling at his two lackeys as they followed him. 

Bev felt her hackles raise as he drew nearer, she didn’t get a good vibe from him, not at all. Plus, the snake that attacked Eddie and Richie was masquerading as someone who hung around the group. It didn’t mean that the rest of them were monsters, too, but Bev kept her guard up anyhow. 

“Now I have to fucking talk to him about - well now, who do we have here?” The mullet guy says, noticing Beverly. She tries not to sneer at him, but it’s hard. 

“ _ Bowers, that’s the girl- _ ” The blond one says with a harsh whisper, pulling at mullets (Bowers?) shoulder, who shrugs him off roughly, glaring back at him. 

“Was I fucking talking to you?” He turns back to Bev, eyeing her up and down in a way that made Bev want to take out her spear and teach him where to keep his eyes. “Now,” he steps forward a couple feet. “I’m onto you and your freak friends.” He says quietly, a manic glint in his eyes. Beverly feels her blood run cold, wishing now that maybe they didn’t split up. Beverly was confident in her abilities as a warrior and halfblood, but potentially three on one? The odds were not in her favor, especially with Ben sitting behind her. “Do me a favor, and get the fuck out of her, if you know whats good for you.” 

And then they’re walking passed her and into the building. She lets out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. “Shit…” She mutters, turning around to face Ben - but Ben was gone. His book still sat on the bench, along with his backpack, but there was no Ben in sight. She turned and looked, “Ben?” She huffed out a sigh, looking back at the book and backpack. She couldn’t just leave his stuff here. But she didn’t know when he’d be back. She didn’t really want to wait with his things, either, not wanting to be by herself or leave Richie by himself, not when he was so injured and potentially vulnerable. 

Resigned, she reached out a hand to grab the book, her thoughts being that she would carry his stuff with her until she saw him again, but as she reached down, her hand made contact with something, like an invisible wall, or -

Appearing out of nowhere sat Ben, mere inches from her, exactly where she saw him last - she let out an undignified yelp, shuffling back a few steps, and Ben also yelled out, which made Bev feel just a tiny bit better about the whole thing because, “ _ what the fuck _ !” 

Ben looks like a combination of shocked, scared, and nervous. “Bev, I can explain!”

“You were-” she starts yelling out, but realizing where she was, outside in the open somewhat near Henry Bowers and his maybe group of monsters, she quieted her voice down to a whisper. “You were _invisible_! You vanished-”

“I know! It happens sometimes - I just got really nervous when I saw Bowers and his gang, and I just turned invisible?” He finished somewhat lamely, his eyes pleading. Beverly breaths in, calming her heart down a bit.

“So this is a recurring thing for you?” Bev asks, an amused lilt to her voice. 

“Kinda? I can’t control when it happens, but… yeah, ever since I was a kid.” And Beverly just couldn’t believe her luck. She was grinning now, which must have freaked Ben out a little bit, since he was looking at her a little strangely. 

“Tell me about your parents.” She says, eagerly. Poor Ben looks so confused, but he obliges nonetheless. 

“Um, well my mom is from Texas. We travel a lot for her work, so she sent me to this boarding school so I wouldn’t travel with her constantly.” Bev nods, 

“Okay, and your dad?”

Ben shrugs, “single mom.” Was all he elaborates on. Bev was practically going through a checklist in her head, as if powers of invisibility wasn’t enough, she felt compelled to confirm it. 

“Are you dyslexic?” 

“Um, yeah-”

“Diagnosed with ADHD or some variety of it?” 

Ben laughs awkwardly, “Bev these are some weird questions-”

“They’re important, Ben.” 

“Yes, I have, how did you know though?”

Beverly grins, putting her hands on Ben’s shoulders. “I have some good news for you, Ben.”

The moment was ruined, of course, by Richie who stormed through the double doors, no glasses but instead a large plastic looking bandage covering his nose. “How sexy do I look?” Bev has to clamp a hand over her mouth to hold back from laughing, the nose cast was ridiculous. “That good, huh? How ‘bout it, Haystack?”

“Definitely a 10/10.” He said, surprisingly humorously. Richie grinned, giving him a fist bump (which he almost missed, considering he was almost blind without his glasses). 

“Richie, Ben- we need to talk.” Bev says, feeling pretty satisfied. She found another halfblood and they were one step closer to where they needed to be. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Firstly, I just want to thank everyone who has read, commented, and gave kudos to this story! You are all so lovely and I look forward to and smile at every single comment! I was really worried when I was writing chapter one that this story was going to be too niche, but here you all are! So thanks, yall! 
> 
> And I'm really not jiving with this chapter at all, it's a lot of exposition and group character interactions which is nooooot my forte (and I write a better Richie than I do an Eddie, I think, so hopefully his POV wasn't too bad asdfghu). The next one will be better!
> 
> Anyways, we got another one! But can anyone guess Ben's parentage? ;) Remember, he's the son of a minor God!   
As a reminder:  
Richie: Hermes  
Stanley: Athena  
Mike: Apollo  
Eddie: Hades  
Bill: ???  
Beverly: Hera  
Ben: ???


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Richie receives a gift. Eddie faces his second trial.

The addition of Ben went smoothly, all things considered. They were relatively excited to be one halfblood closer to their goal (whatever goal that was, Richie didn’t know - he was still on the fence about the whole waiting thing and not just running back to camp, but he was outvoted). So they decided to do a kind of training session with the new bloods the next day (because Eddie was exhausted, they could all tell by the bags under his eyes and how snappy he was). They were given a half day, the school wanting to concentrate on cleaning up the campus of all the earthquake debris. So they all attended morning classes then met up in a secluded spot across campus, near the forest line.

Ben took the news leagues better than Eddie did, but it wasn’t all that surprising - where Eddie was quick witted and sharp tongued and maybe a little neurotic, Ben was like a still lake, calm. He had said, yesterday when Bev dropped the bomb on both Ben and Richie, that he was more surprised than anything, but that it made sense. 

They still had no idea who Ben’s Godly parent was, of course. Powers over invisibility were pretty uncommon, as far as Richie knew, there was no one in any of the cabins back at camp with the ability to do so. They had another mystery to solve, nice.

So there they all stood, in a lopsided semicircle, Bev, Stan and Richie facing their new recruits, Ben and Eddie. Bev told them all to wear athletic clothes, since they’d be moving a lot today, Ben wore a sensible pair of sweats along with a t-shirt that was read “track & field” on it. Eddie, on the other hand, had the gall to wear what were practically short shorts (haven’t you ever hear of the fingertip rule, Edward!), not that they bothered Richie, no not at all - in fact, Richie was just concerned for Eddie’s health, considering it was getting colder outside as the days went on. 

Eddie looked so nervous he was practically vibrating in his skin, and Richie wishes he could wear his glasses and actually see what he looked liked (it looked like a stiff breeze could’ve knocked the poor kid over, yesterday after all that shit happened), but the plastic cast on Richie’s broken nose made it impossible for him to wear his glasses (which were cracked anyways) so he was making do, blind as he was.

“Normally at Camp Halfblood they give you a practice sword and you spend many, many hours honing your skills - unfortunately, we don’t have practice weapons for you two, but we’re going to do our best to teach you self defense skills, as you’re going to need them.” Beverly says, finishing her speech. Ben and Eddie nod, somewhat hesitantly. He can see the blurry outline of Eddie, shifting from foot to foot. “Richie and I will demonstrate how to dodge from an opponent when you are weaponless.”

That was his queue; he saunters up to Bev. 

“Your sword-“ Eddie starts, “it came out of nowhere yesterday. How did you-“

“Oh, you mean this?” He grabs the chain on his neck, pulling it off with a tug. Holding his arm outstretched he says “skýla!” Activating the sword, it growing in the palm of his hand, the metal heavy and cool in his grip. Richie grins, twirling it once. 

“Now that Richie's done showing off, let me explain. Halfbloods are given weapons, and oftentimes you say the name of the weapon for it to activate.” Bev says.

“Like a command word?” Ben asks. Bev nods, smiling.

“Exactly.” She says, voice proud. Richie doesn’t have to be able to see to know exactly what shade of red Ben’s face is right now. “So Richie’s going to attack me and I’ll dodge out of the way.”

“Isn’t Richie like, super fucking blind right now?” Eddie asks, even though his words were sharp, Richie could hear the worrying on the edges.

“Don’t you worry your pretty little head, Spaghetti, I’d be able to kick Bev’s ass with or without my glasses.” Richie says, voice teasing. He chooses to ignore Eddie’s scoff. 

“For the record, Eddie, Richie and I are tied in duels.”

“Um, I’m pretty sure I’m in the lead, Bevvy. I totally opened a can of whoop-ass on you last time!” Their last duel was sometime during the summer, they were often in charge of teaching sword fighting and got to fight a lot, as a result. As far as Richie was concerned, their score was 43-42, in Richie’s favor. 

“Can you guys just hurry it up?” Stan says, ever present frown pulling at his lips. 

Richie whistles, “so terse, Stanley.”

But they start. Richie holds his sword out in front of him, Bev standing a few feet away. It’s true that his vision was blurry, but Richie’s had this sword since he was ten, it was like an extension of his body. A part of him - he could wield it in his sleep, if he needed to. Not that they were actually going to be sword fighting, but still, it needed to be said. 

They start in slow motion, having Eddie and Ben play close attention to not only what Bev was doing, but what Richie was doing as well. 

“When an opponent is coming at you head on, use it to your advantage.” Beverly says. “They have the momentum, sure, but they also make themselves predictable, easy to escape. Like this-” Richie slowly arcs his sword towards Bev, over his head and down towards hers. She easily leans forward and to his left, doing a little roll and maneuvering behind Richie. “See?” 

Richie could practically hear the crickets. 

“You can’t expect us to do fucking acrobatics, right?” Eddie asks, glancing at Ben, looking for support. 

“I mean, we can try?” Ben adds with a shrug, Richie has to fight a grin, watching as Eddie practically glowers at the other halfblood. 

“Have a little faith, Eds.” Eddie looks towards him, his death glare dropping, slightly. 

“I’m not like you two-” He stops, looking at Stanley, “three, okay? I can’t just fight monsters with swords and stab them and shit-”

“You can, though.” Richie adds, enjoying how Eddie’s eyebrows furrow slightly. “I mean, literally. It’s in your blood - your DNA. You’re the son of Hades, for fucks sake!” Eddie looks away, towards the ground, crossing his arms. Richie didn’t need his glasses to see how not-okay Eddie was with the whole “son of Death” thing, still. Which was fine, everyone had their own hang ups and needed their own time to process, but Richie was just a little worried that they didn’t _ have _the time. “Look, the point is - with a little practice, all of this will be like second nature to you. Both of you.”

Ben nodded, looking determined. Eddie still looked a little sullen, but he eventually gave a small, jerky nod. 

“Alright, let's do it again.” Bev says to Richie. 

So they go through it multiple times, in varying speeds and positions (Richie makes a ‘that’s what she said’ joke, reveling in the groans and glares he gets in return). Ben volunteers to try, not long after and Richie feels a little pride at the kid, when sure, he does a stumbly somersault, but he still does one. 

“Awesome job!” Bev says, giving him a high face. He’s grinning, and Richie gives him a fist bump. 

“Thanks - you were right,” he says to Richie. “It’s all instinct.” Richie grins back, planning on using that as a quote for when next time he can use it to prove his kick ass teaching abilities. 

All eyes were on Eddie, who still had his arms crossed, frowning. “Why do I even need to do it? Can’t I just, I don’t know, open a rift to Hell again?” He says, flippantly, his brown eyes stubborn. 

“Oh, so in the last twenty four hours you suddenly learned to control your powers? That’s awesome news, Eds! Should’ve told us sooner!” Richie says sarcastically, which earns him a hard glare from Eddie.

“Fuck you, Richie.” Richie rolls his eyes, a little exacerbated because why was Eddie so against learning how to save himself? He knew that they were watching Eddie closely, but they couldn’t watch him at night. Richie opens his mouth to say as much, but Eddie threw his hands up in the air, “Fine! Fine, I’ll do it.”

Eddie practically stomped over, stopping in front of Richie, Bev moving out of his way. Eddie takes a deep breath. “Ready?” Richie asks, Eddie gives him a nod, his big brown eyes staring up at Richie’s sword. “Alright.” And Richie starts arcing his sword towards him- again, in slow motion, safety first! Richie can practically see calculations running through Eddie’s mind, a mile a second, clearly over thinking the simple forward roll. 

When Richie was close enough, Eddie did a dive forward, tucking his head and rolling forward, popping up back on his feet, looking surprised. “Did I do it?” He asks quietly, looking back at Richie, who grins at him. Eddie practically beams, “I did it!” He yells, basically squealing. 

“I knew you had it in you, Spaghetti!” Richie says, dropping his sword and holding out a hand to give Eddie a high five - except Eddie doesn’t give him one, instead he dives forward, wrapping his arms around Richie’s middle. 

Richie’s brain practically short circuits. He’s stunned, bamboozled, shocked - you get the picture. And he doesn’t really know why, he’s had tons of hugs before. Like, all the time - but in comparison, those all felt like shit compared to the feeling Eddie gave him as he had his arms wrapped around him tightly - Richie was way taller than him, Eddie’s chin barely reaching his shoulder blade. 

Before Richie’s brain can properly react and put his own arms around the other boy, Eddie is already pulling away. His warmth disappearing as he bounds over to someone else, excitedly talking about the perfect roll he did. 

Richie looks away, catching Ben’s eye has he does. Ben looks at him, his dark eyes somehow piercing, like he can maybe read Richie’s thoughts or some shit - so Richie turns away, picking up his discarded sword. 

After Eddie’s success he’s more into practice, does a few more well executed rolls in faster variations, Ben too. They’re decent at it - to be fair, they have a lot to learn. Typically campers came to camp at a younger age, so Eddie and Ben catching on quickly makes sense, their bodies are more capable and minds are more mature, so Bev and Richie are able to teach them things more quickly.

They’re there for a couple hours, they go through more things, like ducking, sliding, etc. By the end of it Eddie and Ben are panting, covered in grass stains with a thin layer of sweat on their brows. They take a well earned break, sitting down on the cool grass, catching their breath. 

“You guys hungry?” Bev asks, greeted with a chorus of ‘oh god yes’ and vigorous nodding. “Alright! What’s everyone’s favorite foods?” She says with an excited grin and a glint in her eyes. Richie throws his head back with a groan, already knowing what she was planning on doing. She shoots him a glare, “shut up, Richie!”

“I didn’t say anything!” Richie says, hands out in front of him in a mock surrender. Eddie and Ben look between them somewhat suspiciously. 

“Good. Ben, what’s your favorite food?” She asks, smiling sweetly. 

“Oh, um, pizza is great, I guess.” Ben says and Beverly nods, eyes shifting to Eddie. 

“I don’t know, salad?” Richie can’t hold back the burst of laughter bubbling in his throat. “What’s so fucking funny?” He questions.

“Of course you fucking like salad, you’re like a tiny rabbit!” And the look on Eddie’s face is _ priceless _\- his mouth agape and eyes wide, he looks so offended. 

“I am _ not _!” He yells, aghast. 

“C’mon, you’re both small, eat salad-”

“Salad is healthy, Richie! It’s good for you!”

“I’ll take a salad, too.” Stan says, interjecting. 

“Great!” Bev says, not bothering to ask Richie because she knows what he likes and what he doesn’t. Beverly takes a deep breath, closing her eyes. 

“Um, what the fuck is she doing?” Eddie asks in a not so quiet whisper. 

“You’ll see.” Richie says back. Stan, Eddie, and Ben all watch as she holds her hands out in front of her, wiggling her fingers slightly. There was a moment of silence, and then a burst of bright, peacock feathered light and sitting in the middle of their circle was a box of pizza and prepared salad. 

“Woah!” Ben exclaims, a look a delight on his face. 

“I didn’t know you could do that.” Stan says, an impressed half smile pulling at his lips. Beverly shrugs, but she’s smiling, clearly proud of yourself. 

“Don’t get ahead of yourselves, I’d try it before singing her praises.” Beverly had been practicing her food conjuration for years, it was one of Hera’s many skills, after all, so Beverly had been determined to do as well as her mother. 

“Don’t be rude, Richie.” 

“Last time it tasted like burnt garbage - that’s all I’m sayin- _hey_!” Bev grinned at him, holding another crouton in her hand, ready to throw it. “See! Croutons should never hurt that much!” Bev lobbed another one, but Richie was ready. Opening his mouth, he caught it in time. And, okay maybe it didn’t taste that bad this time, but it was probably because Richie’s nose was broken and everybody knows that if you can’t smell, somehow the foods taste level goes down. 

“I think it tastes amazing,” Ben says, ever the suck up. “It’s so cool that you can do that, Beverly.” 

“Well it isn’t half as cool as turning invisible, but it has its uses.” She was smiling, but Richie could swear that he saw a dusting of pink on her tan cheeks. 

So they ate, Richie taking part in some of the pizza. It wasn’t _ amazing _like Ben said, but it was edible and enough for them. They had a good time, laughing and joking (with some crouton throwing, but that was mostly between Richie and Eddie). They were finally ready to get back into training, standing up.

“Now let’s work on your powers.” Beverly says, matter of fact. Richie could sense the nervousness coming from not just Eddie, but Ben as well. 

“I really can’t control when I turn invisible.” Ben says, with a slight shrug. 

“That’s what practice is for - hopefully we can make it an instinct for you, just like combat.” Bev says, playacting.

“What can you guys do?” Eddie asks, arms crossed over his chest. “Maybe knowing that can help us?” Fair enough, Richie looked at Bev first, she was the one with the real power, in comparison to Richie. 

“Well you’ve seen a bit of what I can do already. But, I’m also very good with animals, particularly those sacred to Hera.” They nodded, then their eyes shifted to Richie.

“Besides my devilishly handsome good looks-“ he runs a hand through his curly locks with a grin, ignoring the snort from Eddie. “I can steal pretty much anything!” He finishes with a flourish and yes, he is aware of how painfully lame that sounds compared to animal control and all the other cool shit Bev could do. 

“He’s fast, too.” Bev adds in, helpfully. 

“Right! I’m fast, too!” 

All eyes shifted to Stan, who stands there so painfully awkward with this arms held limply at his sides. He shifted, “Oh, um… nothing? I guess.” The silence that followed was painful, Richie had to fill it-

“Aw, don’t talk like that ol’ chap!” Richie says in his best British accent, grinning at Stan and nudging his ribs with his elbow, Stan frowned, stepping away. “Tell them ‘bout that fancy shield ya have, mate!” 

Stan rolls his eyes, but complies. He reaches down to his belt, where a large and round buckle sits. He presses the center and it unhooks from the belt, growing in size and becoming a huge silver shield, gleaming in the afternoon light. It’s so shiny that Richie could see his reflection clearly (well, if he could see). 

“Whoa - that’s so neat, Stan.” Ben says, and Richie is pretty sure he’s being honest. 

“Yeah, awesome!” Eddie tacks on. But Stan just shrugs, clearly not buying what they were saying. 

“Yeah, I guess.” And he puts back the shield into its buckle form, putting it back on his belt. 

“Well, that wasn’t depressing at all.” Richie mutters, Beverly elbows him hard.

“Anyways, so now you two are going to practice. Eddie,” Eddie perks up, his brown eyes focusing on Beverly. “You’ll start, why don’t you step forward?” He does, tentatively. “Great. Often times powers are triggered by strong emotions at first, before you can control them completely. What were you feeling yesterday? Before you opened the rift.” Richie swears he sees Eddie’s eyes flash to him, but then they’re back on Bev. 

“Um. I was angry, I guess.” He says. Bev nods, understanding.

“Great. That’s a good start - powerful emotions are often the catalyst.”

“But I can’t just feel angry every time I’m in danger.” Eddie protests. 

“Sometimes knowing that you have the power to do it, is enough.” Richie finds himself saying, shifting when Eddie’s eyes turn to him. He shrugs, “Like, 85% of being a halfblood is following your instincts and believing in yourself. Trusting that you can do it.” Richie finishes with a shrug, and suddenly they’re all staring at him like’s he grown a second head. Richie throws his hands into the air, “Fuck you guys! Why is Bev the only one around here with permission to say profound shit? I know deep stuff, too!” 

Eddie scoffs, “please - you’re about as deep as the kiddy pool.” 

“Alright, that’s the last time I give you any words of wisdom, shortstack.” 

“Oh, real comedian - shorts jokes are the epitome of comedy!” Eddie snaps back.

“Glad you agree, peanut, I’ll be here all week.” Richie grins as Eddie’s face contours into something angry and Richie just loves it, he’s never met anyone that was so easy to rile up. 

“Okay! Okay. Ben - let’s go over some things with you.” Beverly says in a tired voice, clearly already done with Richie and Eddie. Eddie steps back as Ben steps forward, glaring at Richie as he does so, Richie can’t hold back a wink - very much enjoying the scowl that followed. 

So they go over things with Ben, and true to his words - he doesn’t go invisible (Richie was almost 100% confident that Beverly was making all that shit up to try and one up Richie’s discovery of the son of fucking Hades). And the hours quickly passed.

“Hey - I have to go, guys.” Eddie says while looking down at his phone. 

“What’s up?” Richie asks, trying to sound casual and not crestfallen. 

“Nothing - just Bill. He wants to hang out.” Eddie says, standing up and stretching (Richie pointedly does not look at the strip of skin revealed). “It’s getting late anyways.” He gives everyone a wave, preparing to leave. Richie wanted to roll his eyes, because of _ course _Bill wanted to pull Eddie away from their group, he seemed to be good at that. 

“Wait, I’ll come with.” Stan says, and Eddie seems to pause, contemplating. 

“Guys, I really don’t think I need a babysitter constantly.” Eddie says, kicking at the dirt beneath his feet. Richie but his lip, sharing a panicked look with Bev, who returns it. They made a discovery about Eddie’s ring yesterday, and things had been so busy they haven’t had the chance to actually talk to him about how much danger he potentially was in. Just walking around on campus with monsters maybe lurking about was dangerous, and even if Eddie had successfully rolled and did great during their combat training, he still clearly had no idea how to control his newfound powers, or even what the extent of those powers was! 

It was a tough situation, really. The last thing Richie wanted to do was smother Eddie (it seemed like his mother did that enough, what with the power inhibiting ring, and not telling him about his dad) but. He was clearly a target, one that would be facing three trials that he couldn’t complete alone. But maybe Eddie was so used to being alone, that he didn’t understand what it was like to have people willing to help him.

“Don’t think of it as babysitting, then.” Stan says, throwing his bag over his shoulder and standing up anyways. Richie was inspired by the kids confidence when Eddie clearly didn’t want him to tag along. “Besides, Richie and Bev will be with Ben, so I have nowhere else to go.” 

Eddie’s shoulders slumped, clearly giving up the argument (there really was no point in arguing with Stan, once he had his mind made up, that was it). Richie waved them off as they trudged their way back to campus to meet up with Bill. Richie stops up too, dusting off his pants. 

“Tally ho my good friends! I’m off, too!” He said in his amazing British accent, giving Bev and Ben a two finger salute. 

“Wait Richie - where are you going?” Bev asks, sitting up slightly, but not standing. 

Richie shrugs, “I’ll be ‘round, one text away and all that.” It seemed like Bev wanted to say something, but she doesn’t. She just purses her lips and nods. He can hear Ben say goodbye as he leaves, so Richie gives a wave as he walks away, towards the lake. 

  


Fall had hit hard, the leaves were already turning pretty oranges and reds, falling to the ground. Campus was relatively quiet, as usual. Never much activity around. It was the complete opposite of the schools he went to before he ran away to camp halfblood - those were all loud, full of loud kids who did loud things (Richie was one of them), classes full of them with a single teacher who was too overwhelmed to actually get any teaching done. 

His very last school was in Boston, he fucking sucked at reading, the words and letters were always mixed up in his mind, so he always said the wrong thing and _ man _ did the kids there have a field day with a boy who not only was pale with dark curly hair, but wore goofy glasses and couldn’t read (“aren’t glasses _ for _reading?” “What do you even need these ugly things for if you’re still too dumb to read words right!”). His mom worked long hours but when she was home she’d sooner crack open a beer than actually talk to Richie about his problems. So he left through the window one night, leaving a note behind that read ‘smell ya later’ and took a bag of clothes and the money he saved up from the little his mom gave him to do chores and he was out of there. 

He missed it a little, his room (that he didn’t have to share, like at camp) and his mom, a bit. But he didn’t miss the loud chaos that was school.

And this place? Sick as fuck, literally. He was positive that Mr. P was paying a pretty penny for all of them to stay there for the semester. I mean, what kind of school just had a private lake? Richie loved it.

After fifteen or so minutes of walking, he finally made it to the lake. He made a beeline to one of the benches, pausing when he realizes that someone is already sitting on bench. He _ really _wanted to be alone and just stare at the water, unbothered. But. He was also pretty fucking tired, having just kicked the ass of a monster (and having his own ass kicked) and the hours of training he just did, he couldn’t see another bench so, fine sharing it was.

He wordlessly sat on the other side, sparing the man a short glance. He was tall, so he probably wasn’t a student. But he couldn’t make anything else out, practically blind as a bat. Not to mention he wasn’t too fond of staring at strangers. 

They sat there for a moment. It was nice, peaceful. Richie had too much going through his mind lately, he needed to just be by himself and zone out, zone out of his own mind, even. Sometimes his thoughts were too much for even him. 

“Beautiful day, eh Rich?” Richie whips his head over to look at the man, and he nearly falls off of the bench.

“Dad-?!”

And _ of course! _He feels like a complete moron, not noticing that his fucking God of a parent sat next to him, shining blond hair and all. Richie didn’t think he took much after Hermes. He got his hair and looks from his mom, after all. Honestly, the last time he saw his dad he mentioned just how much he looked like his mom. 

Hermes was giving him his signature, crooked grin. Clearly amused and not at all offended. “How’s it hanging, sport?”

“Oh, um - fine, I guess?” Richie stammered out, internally cringing at how he sounded. Really, though, he hadn’t seen his dad in three years, so a little surprise was warranted, he thought. “What are you doing here?” Richie asks curiously. 

Hermes throws an arm over the back of the bench, leaning back and looking at Richie up and down, “wow, look at how much you’ve grown. Seriously, I think you might just be taller than me.” He says with a chuckle, Richie smiles back bashfully. 

‘_ Show us _!’ 

‘_ Yes, we must know how he’s grown. _’

Two familiar voices hissed from Hermes’ pocket. Hermes sighed, taking out his phone and pointing the screen towards Richie, who gives an awkward wave with a grin - he’d forgotten George and Martha, his dad’s two loyal attendants who happened to be snakes that literally lived in his phone. 

“Long time no see, Martha, George.”

‘_ So grown up _!’ Martha hisses fondly.

‘_ He looks just like you. _ ’ George adds, which - obviously Richie doesn’t. ‘ _ Same devilish smile! _’

“Alright, alright - enough with the teasing, you two.” Hermes says, but he’s smiling, looking at Richie. Richie suddenly wishes he could wear his glasses, so he could actually see his dad (and Martha and George, he didn’t realize he had missed those two nosy snakes). “I saw your battle, that’s why I’m here.” Hermes says after a beat.

“Oh.” Richie says lamely, because how embarrassing. His dad *who he hadn’t seen in years) saw him get his ass beat by a monster, of course he did. Maybe that’s why he was here, to call him out for being so weak - why else would he have made the time to see him in person? Hermes was a busy, busy guy - he had thousands of jobs each day with delivering packages for the Gods, not to mention guiding the souls of the dead to the Underworld. So Richie looks at his hands, picking at a hangnail - honestly, he’d look anywhere but at his dad at this point. 

A strong hand rests on his shoulder, Richie can’t help but tense up. “You did great, Richie.” Hermes says, voice soft yet firm. Richie looks up at him, surprised. 

“Um, no? Can’t you see how much I fucked up - I mean, the proof is all right here-” He points to his bandaged nose. 

“Ah - things break all the time, Rich, it doesn’t mean that you weren’t good enough.” And Richie has no idea what to say to that, not especially used to parental words of wisdom. “Besides, I came here for just that - well, partly.” He looks down at his phone, “Full form please.” He says, and the phone glows, stretching into his caduceus staff, George and Martha wrapped around it, forked tongues flickering from their mouths. “George, if you would.” On command George opens his mouth and Hermes holds his hand under it, waiting for something to drop. 

A tiny black box falls into the palm of his dad's hand. “Here.” Hermes holds the box out for Richie to take, Richie does. At first, when he first met Hermes for real, Richie had been super grossed out by the idea of a snake carrying Hermes’ packages for him in his stomach (because ew) but he’d gotten over it when George spit up a box that contained Richie’s winged chucks, when he was thirteen. 

He opens it and grins, ignoring the pain that sprouts from his nose. In the box was a tiny cube of ambrosia. “Hell yeah, thanks dad.” 

“Sure thing, kiddo. Can’t have you walking around with a nose like that, can we?” Hermes says as Richie flips the box over and into his palm, and then shoving the piece of ambrosia into his mouth. It tasted like his mom's homemade lasagna that was reserved for special occasions like the last night of Hanukkah or Richie’s birthday, he hadn’t had it in years.

The effects were almost instantaneous. Richie could feel his bone sliding back into place, it was an uncomfortable feeling. Imagine your bone moving on its own- sliding around against your cartilage. But the feeling didn’t last long, after a moment he felt no pain and was able to take the plastic that was held over it, off. He wiggles his nose, lifting a finger to gently prod around his eyes, where some of the bruising was really bad.

“How does it look?” Richie asks with a painless grin. 

“Good as new.”

‘_ You’re welcome! _’ George hisses.

‘_ Why are you saying ‘you’re welcome’? It was not through your doing that Richie got the ambrosia! _’ Martha hisses back. 

“Thanks, George, for holding onto it.” Richie says, trying to placate his dads snakes so they wouldn’t get into a fight. “And thanks, dad. As much as the broken nose made me look like a badass I’m happy I can finally breathe again.” 

“Hey, that was nothing! I got something else for you - Martha, you’re up.” On queue, Martha’s mouth open and out slides another box, this one sleek and black. It’s about the size of Richie’s hand, maybe a little smaller. Richie’s heart beats a tiny bit faster, feeling exactly like the thirteen year old boy that had gotten a gift from his Godly father. “I hope they fit.” Hermes says, passing the box over to Richie with a joking wink.

Richie takes it, hesitating. He wasn’t _ scared _ of what was in the box, but excited. Slowly he opened it. On the inside sat a pair of stylish, thick rimmed black glasses. “Holy shit.” Richie whispers, delicately taking the glasses out of their case. The felt heavy but light at the same time, sort of how his sword felt in his hands. Most importantly, however, they felt _ magical _. 

“Go on, try them.” Hermes says, urging him with an amused smile. Richie wasted no time slipping them on his face, the world suddenly becoming crystal clear instead of the blurry mess he had become used to during the past couple days. “And?”

“Fuckin’ mint.” Richie replies, grinning. They were a perfect fit, and he could see more clearly than he could with his old pair of glasses. 

Hermes laughed, bright and booming. His eyes crinkling in the corners, blue eyes looking at him amused and fond. “They’re enchanted to stay on your head, and they’re far more durable than mortal glasses. You shouldn’t have any problems with those. They also have one more key feature.” Richie perks up, “they have the unique ability to see through petty disguised and instead see the truth. Use them well on your quest, Richie.”

Richie furrowed his brows, because really? Another riddle he had to solve? “Right, thanks dad.” He bit his lip, contemplating. “Speaking of the quest…” he started slowly, trying to pick his words carefully. He had a tendency to word vomit when he was nervous, but his father sat there, waiting patiently. Seeing him like that gave Richie confidence. “Do you… do you know what’s going to happen? I mean - can you give me a clue or hint about what I should be doing? Because right now I feel like I’m floundering in shallow water.” He said with a nervous chuckle. 

Hermes seemed to consider him for a moment, before his blue eyes slid over to the blue lake in front of them. It was a still day, not much wind or movement. 

“You lack confidence in yourself.” Oh shit, here it was - more of the parental wisdom he hated. 

“Oh c’mon, dad - how could I lack confidence when I look like this?” He pointed up at his face, a stupid (fake) grin on his face. 

‘_ Not very convincing _’ hissed George. 

“Hey!” Richie snapped, glaring at the snake. “You’re no longer my favorite, George.” 

_ ‘Noooo _!’ George cried, anguished

‘_ Yessss _!’ Martha hissed in delight. 

“Richie - I know I haven’t been around as often as you or I would like, but I still watch over you. I know how your last quest went, but you need to understand that just because you failed once doesn’t mean that you _ are _a failure.”

Richie humorlessly snorts, picking at a loose thread on his jeans. “I’m pretty sure that that’s the literal definition of a failure, pops.” Hermes opens his mouth, clearly ready to spout more Godly advice, but Richie decided that he’s officially heard enough words of wisdom to last him a life time or two. “_ Anyways _\- if you can’t tell me anything because of ‘Godly rules’ or whatever, that’s fine too. Just thought I’d, y’know, ask at least.”

Hermes grins, “I don’t think you need my help. Just do what you did yesterday, kid. Stay alert and on your toes, like you always are.”

‘We have five minutes before Zeus’ delivery is late.’ Martha hissed. Hermes sighs, standing up from the bench, Richie stays seated. 

“Sorry, I gotta run, kiddo. The big guy doesn’t like it when I’m late.” Hermes says, a sad smile on his lips. Richie shrugs, he wasn’t even expecting his dad to be here, let alone make time in his schedule for a game of catch.

“It’s fine, dad.” 

Hermes reaches a hand over, muzzling up Richie’s curls. “I’ll see you soon, son. Good luck.” 

“Okay, bye dad.”

‘_Byeeee Richie!_’ Martha and George say at the same time, but before Richie could say anything, Hermes is disappearing in a flash of light. Richie sighs, not really knowing what to do at this point. 

The talk _ had _ been good, he guessed. He somehow felt better knowing that his dad was watching over him, even if he couldn’t intervene or whatever. There wasn’t much he could do besides wait, so that’s what he did.

* * *

Bill wanted to meet him near the gardens, so Eddie and Stan trudged along. Eddie tried to make conversation as they puttered along, but Stan - who was very nice, Eddie would like to note - but he was introverted. And Eddie was tired, both from yesterday and from their little training session, so he was content with just walking in silence. 

Eventually they arrived at the gardens. It was a large area, sprawling and green. As the weather got colder more of the flowers lost their petals, so the garden as a whole looked a little bear, but Eddie still liked it here anyways. Bill was sitting not too far away from the entrance, busying himself with his phone. It didn’t look like Georgie was around, right now, but they’d probably meet him for dinner later.

“Bill!” Eddie yelled as they neared, catching his attention. Bill looked up with a smile - pausing as his eyes stop on Stan. 

“Hey, Eddie, S-Stan.” Bill stood up from where he was seated, meeting them halfway. He looks between them, smile a little dim, suddenly Eddie really wish Richie would’ve volunteered instead. “You didn’t t-tell me you were hanging out with Stan today, Eddie.” Bill’s tone is all weird as he looks at Eddie - Eddie can’t tell if he’s mad or not, there’s some hidden inflection in his voice that is kind of hinting to Eddie that he maybe should’ve just gone alone. 

“Oh, uh, yeah - we were hanging out with his roommate when you texted me, he thought he should come along?” 

“W-well, it’s just that I kind of wanted to talk to you alone.” Bill says and Eddie cringes, glancing over to Stan who looks a little hurt, but he quickly covers it up with the classic stoic Stan mask. “N-not that I’m not happy to see you, Stan, i-its just that I haven’t r-really had time to talk to him and there’s s-something important I wanted to ask.” Oof, he was stammering really bad as he looked at Stan, kind of pleading not to take it personal. 

Eddie had to save this. Stan looked at Bill blankly, and shrugged, “I get it - I wasn’t invited,”

“T-that’s not what I-”

“Okay, Bill, how about you just tell me what you wanted to tell me over here, and afterwards we can all do something else?” Eddie suggested, hoping it would be enough. Stan wasn’t going anywhere, after all - and Eddie had thought they were getting along just fine, especially after yesterday when they were all hanging out together in their room. What had changed between then and now?

“Sure, I’ll be over here.” Stan says, turning before Bill or Eddie could say anything else. 

They watched him walk away, sitting down probably out of hearing range, not that Eddie minded if he was closer - what could Bill have to talk to Eddie about that was so important? 

“Way to go, Bill, he’s going to look super sad for the rest of the day.” Eddie said, only half serious. Bill pursed his lips, looking away from Stan. 

“I didn’t mean for it to sound like that, b-but really. We needed to talk, and you’ve been so busy suddenly, and yesterday you f-fell asleep as soon as he and Georgie left, and this morning you were gone before I even woke up.” Bill says, sounding a bit frustrated. Eddie feels a little conflicted - on the one hand he does feel bad that since last week he really hadn’t been spending any time with him at all. Bill was his best (and first) friend in his whole life, really, and even though they’ve known each other for a little over a month Eddie truly felt like they brothers. 

On the other hand - Bill was never amazing at communication. And Eddie wasn’t a mind reader (or was he? Maybe that was one of the perks of being the son of you-know-who) and he had no idea that Bill needed to talk to him about something important (Eddie’s anxiety spikes at that).

“You could’ve texted me?”

“Well I did, kinda. Yesterday.”

And Eddie wasn’t following, which must have shown on his face, because Bill lets out a sigh. “Just let me ask - what happened yesterday? During the earthquake. What _ really _happened?” Bill asks, his blue eyes practically piercing Eddie. 

Eddie’s throat goes dry, man he hated lying to him so much. “I-I I already told you,” he says, stammering. “I was at lunch, then I ran into stan and his roommate and we went back to his room.” 

Bill was staring at him, hard. His brows are furrowed and he looks frustrated. He sighs, “‘_ Death’s bells toll _ ’ d-does that mean anything to you?” And Eddie looks at him, surprised. Bill couldn’t possibly know about him being the son of the guy downstairs, right? Is that what this was about? Bill found out and now he’s scared of Eddie (who wouldn’t be? Eddie was terrified of _ himself _).

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Eddie says, looking away. This seemed to confirm whatever it was that Bill was looking for, he takes a sharp breath, and Eddie can tell from his peripheral that he’s staring at him, wide eyed-

“Guys?” Stan calls, and Eddie had never been so thankful of Stan before. He’s walking towards them quickly, glancing over his shoulder. Eddie follows his gaze, his heart skipping a beat once he finds what Stan was looking at. “That guys been staring at you two for the past few minutes.”

It was one of Henry Bowers’ goons. The big one, who had a foot on Eddie at least, and probably clocked in at over two hundred pounds of terrifying muscle. And true to Stan’s words, he was just standing there, arms crossed (looking intimidating as fuck) and legs spread. He was far enough away that there was no immediate danger, but still. Bev and Stan had theorized that potentially the whole of Bowers’ gang were monsters.

“Let’s go this way.” Bill says, taking the lead. He leads them further into the garden, Eddie spares a look behind him, only to see about 100 yards away Belch (Eddie thought that was the guys name) was following behind, making long strides. “Fuck.” Bill whispers, the only thing in front of them was a rose bush maze. It wasn’t particularly large, but it was either that or run straight into Belch. 

“What do we do?” Eddie asks, panicked, looking towards Stan for guidance, since he was the senior halfblood on site. They huddled at the entrance, Bill in front of Stan who stood in front of Eddie. Stan shook his head, clearly not knowing - which was annoying, considering from what Eddie knew about Athena, he should’ve had a plan or _ something _. 

“Aw, are you scared?” Belch says, walking closer to the the rose maze’s entrance where the three of them stood. “Three of you, huh? Well, I only needed the one,” Belch’s beedy eyes honed straight in on Eddie, he tensed up even more (if that was possible). “But if I can kill all three of you fuckers, I’m pretty sure the boss will promote me.” He said with a dark grin, making Eddie’s stomach churn. 

Belch took a step closer, his face twisting and body cracking and holy shit they were right - it was another monster, Eddie noted with panicked disdain, clutching onto the shirts of Bill and Stan. 

He contorted, his height growing a couple of feet, face expanding and elongated - and all Eddie could do in watch in horror, oblivious to the changes of the rose maze around him. “Stan what the fuck do we do!” Eddie yells.

Stan seemed paralyzed, watching the transformation in fear. “I-I don’t-” He stuttered, not being able to get his words out, eyes stuck to the monster in front of them. Horns grew out of his head, a snout taking form. What stood before them, Eddie realized, was a nine foot bull. The Minotaur. 

“_ Run _! We need to run!” Bill says, pushing Stan and Eddie backwards into the maze. So they did, listening to Bill’s advice. They turned and booked it, Eddie noticing a little belatedly that the bushes around them were once waist height, now they towered over twelve feet into the air, casting a shadow over them, making the maze dark. They ran straight, then hit a right turn, then a left - and holy shit!

“Bill! What did you see?” Stan asks as they slow down into a stop, catching their breaths and gathering themselves. It seemed like a weird, silly question in Eddie’s opinion, but what did he know? He was just thrown into a world where Gods and Minotaur exist! 

Bill looked at Stanley as Stan panted, slightly out of breath. “What did _ you _see?” Bill said, eyeing Stan in a calculated way. Stan seemed taken aback by the answer, but Eddie was just annoyed. 

“You want to know what I saw? I saw an asshole turn into a fucking _ bull _!” Eddie yells, throwing a hand into the direction where he thought they came from. Both Bill and Stan looked at him, eyes guilty for their argument. “And look around us! This wasn’t the tiny rose maze that we thought we started in!” Eddie gestured around them, pointing at the imposing wall of greenery, 

“Eddie, c-calm down-”

“I am _ fucking _calm, Bill!” Eddie snapped, feeling a bit bad for doing so after as Bill pursed his lips together. Eddie took a deep breath. “What do we do?” Eddie asks in a more steady voice, looking at the two taller guys across from his. 

He expected Stan to step up, because Stan was the voice of calm reason in their little halfblood group, but Stan just stood there, hands clenched tight - nearly shaking. He didn’t expect Bill to say anything - Bill was a leader, for sure. But he must have felt as out of his depth as Eddie did yesterday when Eddie had faced off against his first monster (and now he’s facing his second, Gods help him). But Bill does step forward, his head held high and sure, confident. And Eddie had a feeling, in the back of his mind, that maybe Bill wasn’t as out of his depth as he should be. 

“We need to keep moving.” He says, and Eddie had to agree. He didn’t think they were that far from the entrance, the Minotaur able to catch up with them any second. Eddie nodded vigorously, ready to just go and get out of there. “When we get far enough away, we can think of a plan. Okay?”

“Okay.” Eddie agrees. They look at Stan, who looks scared, still, looking off into the distance, down one of the paths. “Stan?” Stan startles, looking back at Eddie and Bill. 

“Wha- yeah, yes.” He nods, and then they take off, slow and steady. 

The maze was confusing. Watching movies with a maze, Eddie would always laugh at the unbelievability of the characters getting lost in them, but he was starting to see the point. It was disorienting, that was the biggest part. They’d run into dead ends, have to loop back around, and they quickly lost their sense of direction. Eventually, they came to a stop in an intersection. 

Eddie closed his eyes, feeling a panic attack coming on - but he was sick of them. He couldn’t keep freaking out every time there was a monster after him, especially considering that this was his new normal. 

His next thought was to text Bev or Richie - maybe Richie would be able to fly overhead and guide them to the exit (or carry Eddie to safety). So he takes out his phone and unlocks it, but curses when he sees that he has absolutely no service. Of fucking course. He puts his phone back into his pocket.

He heard Bill whispering from beside him. “‘_ An endless maze _ ’...” Bill mutters, worrying his lip with his teeth. He looked thoughtful, like he was doing mental gymnastics. Eddie looked at him, concerned. “‘ _ Endless maze _ ’... ‘ _ to be apart _’” Eddie was really starting to worry about Bill, what with his muttering like a mad man. 

“Bill?” Eddie asks, tentatively. Bill looks at him, his gaze calculating. “What do you know?” Eddie asks, he’s not sure he wants to know what Bill’s been keeping from him all this time, though. 

Bill looked resigned, pursing his lips together like he didn’t really want to tell Eddie anything. “I-it’s complicated.” He says, and Eddie doesn’t like that answer. 

“Really? Is it more or less complicated than the fucking maze we’re currently going around in circles in?” He asks sarcastically, and Bill sighs. 

“Wait-” He perks up, looking around. “W-where did Stan go?” Bill asks, and Eddie flips his head around, looking for any sign of curly blond hair. 

“He was right next to me!” Eddie says, but. Was he? Did he remember Stan running with them? When was the last time he saw him? He had no idea, now that he was really thinking about it. He was definitely with them when they first started running, so where did he get split up - and when? “We need to retrace our steps.” He was expecting a reply or some form of acknowledgement, but he was met with silence. “Bill?” Eddie did a frantic 360, searching for any sign of his friend. “Bill!” He yells.

There was nothing but an echo of his own voice.

His breath started picking up, his chest heaving up and down. He needed to get out of here, but he couldn’t leave Stan or Bill - but how was he supposed to find them? They had been running for a long time, and there was nothing around - nothing but an endless fucking maze!

Eddie sucks in a long, shaky breath. Squeezing his eyes shut. Panicking never helped. He pictures Richie, with his easy grin and calming presence. What would Richie do? He’d probably be totally calm. If he couldn’t fly, he’d use his halfblood instincts to find the others and get them out - instincts that Eddie also had. Innate demigod powers. He remembers how excited he had been just a few hours ago after successfully doing a combat roll, how proud Richie looked at him. He took another deep breath. 

He could do this. 

He opened his eyes, calmly surveying his whereabouts. The maze had moved. He was no longer standing in an intersection, instead he was standing at a fork. He could either go left, or right. But which way should he go?

Earlier Bev had explained that his father had powers over earth. That was probably why he was able to open it up - so maybe if he listened to the earth, he’d be able to find the correct path to Bill and Stan. 

“You can do this, Eddie. Just like what they said, doing is all about believing.” Eddie crouched down, holding a shaky hand over the dirt, tentative. Then he gently pressed it to the ground. There was nothing at first. Just stillness. But he didn’t let himself get freaked out over it, he knew he could do it - if he was able to do what he did yesterday, he could do something this small today. 

Then there felt like movement. Nothing but a small tremor, but it was there - calling to him from the left path. Left. Left is where he needed to go. He stood up, bounding left. Every Time there was a new path, he would stop and concentrate, waiting for the telltale tremors. Every turn it got louder, more violent - he hoped he was on the right path. 

He had gone for at least ten minutes, but it was hard to tell. He couldn’t see the sun, and he still didn’t have much sense of direction. “Okay, now where are we going?” Eddie asked himself, leaning down to put his hand on the ground. But a large shadow appeared over him, his blood turned to ice in his veins. 

“Looking for me?” A deep, grumbling voice asks. Eddie whips his head around, coming face to face with the bull that towered over him. 

“Oh my god…” Eddie whispers, craning his neck all the way back to even see the creatures head. The creature snorted. 

“I don’t have any beef with the King of the Underworld, personally, just acting on the bosses orders. So when I crush your skull in, no hard feelings?” The minotaur lifted his menacing ax into the air (holy shit it looked sharp-) And Eddie had to move - move your feet, Eddie move-!

Eddie ducked out of the way as the ax came sweeping over his head, rolling a safe distance away. He scrambles to his feet, and takes off running. 

“Aw, c’mon son of Death! It just makes it more fun when you run!” The thing laughs, and ugly heaving, cackling noise. 

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Eddie yells as he skids around a corner, and then another and another - he can feel the things hot breath on his back, Eddie’s short legs really letting him down on this one. He needed to do something to get the Minotaur off his back so he can get away. But what could he do? 

“_ Listen to your instincts. _” Richie had said. 

What were his instincts telling him to do? He was running towards a dead end, the large hedge casting an ominous shadow - there was nothing he could do besides go straight, or turn around and get his head chopped off by the monster behind him. His instincts told him running straight would save his life. So Eddie followed them. 

“Where are you going, little demigod? It’s a dead end!” It cackled hideously. Eddie willed himself to run faster, sprinting head first into the big hedge. 

He thought it would hurt, but he didn’t feel anything. He just saw darkness, but he felt safe. Like he was being swaddled in shadows. It felt nice. 

The sensation was over after a second, but probably less. He stumbled forward, tripping over his own momentum. “Holy shit-!” 

“Oh my God!” 

He was crashing into someone, the next thing he knew. Looking up, he’s relieved to see a head of curly dark blond hair. “Stan - thank fuck, I thought you were gone -”

“Where did you come from?” Stan asks incredulously, looking with his mouth agape at the bush he had apparently stumbled out of. 

“The fucking bull was right behind me, it was a dead end so I ran straight through it. I think, maybe, it was the shadows - it made me feel… safe. Which is really hilarious, considering where we are right now.”

“Shadow travel?” Stan repeats, mumbling. “Wow.” He finishes lamely. 

Eddie just shrugs, feeling a little bashful. “What happened to you? You were with Bill and I one minute - the next you weren’t.” 

“The maze changes. It’s trying to keep us separated, I think.” 

“We need to find Bill.” 

Stan looked at him, eyes considering. “Speaking of Bill - did you know?” 

“Know what?” Eddie repeats, raising an eyebrow. 

“That he’s like us. A halfblood.”

“What?” Eddie says with a dismissive laugh. “I would’ve known - he would’ve told me.” But. But Eddie hadn’t told him that he was a halfblood, why should he expects Bill to have? 

Stan looks at him, his steel grey eyes piercing. “He is. He saw through the mist, a mortal wouldn’t have seen Belch transforming into his true form - they wouldn’t have seen anything.” Stan made valid points, of course he did. Then Eddie remembers what he asked him earlier, before they were being chased down by a monster - he asked him about Death bells tolling. At first he thought it was a coincidence - but did Bill know who he was? Who his father is? It didn’t sit right with him. 

“We should keep moving, I have an idea.” Stan says after a moment, Eddie perks up. “What do you know about the minotaur myths?” Stan asks and Eddie shrugs. 

“Not much, honestly. Was that the one with Icarus?” Stan shakes his head.

“Close, but no. This is the one with Theseus. He got sent to the Minotaur’s maze as a sacrifice and was determined to to escape alive.”

“How’d he do it?” Eddie asks.

“He left a trail of yarn for him to follow his path, so he wouldn’t get lost.” Well, fat chance of that happening. They neither had yarn and they were well into the maze. “We don’t have either of those, but we also have knowledge of another fairy tale.” Eddie wasn’t following. “Hansel and Gretel.”

“Oh!” Eddie understood now. 

“These hedges are full of small branches, if we cut them up and leave them behind us, the maze wont trick us and have us go in circles.” Stan explained. 

“Good idea, Stan.” Eddie said, praising the other boy. Eddie could see a small smile on the edges of Stan’s lips. 

“And for the not losing each other part-” He holds out his hand, “this was the only thing I could come up with.” Eddie shrugged, there are worse people to hold hands with. 

So they started again, together, holding hands. Their progress was slow, but steady. They left pieces of branches behind them, Eddie had also explained his new found power, how he was able to feel where to go. So he did that while Stan prepared the branches, dropping pieces behind them as if they were breadcrumbs. 

And it was working, for the most part. They were slow going, but that was to be expected. They reached a three way path, Eddie puts one hand on the ground, the other still holding onto Stan. The earth was silent for a moment, Eddie not feeling anything but - then there was something, like a small vibration just ahead of them. He looks up, inquizitive. 

It takes him a moment to see the gnarled and jagged vines creeping out of the hedges, the tendrils long and thick, covered in large thorns. Stan was oblivious, busy snapping branches in half with the one hand. “Stan-!” Eddie shouts, but Stan wouldn’t have enough time to react, so Eddie tackles him as hard as he could, easily taking Stan to the ground with him.

Eddie can feel a gust of wind over their heads as the vines just barely miss their target. “Oh, not again…” Stan whispers, looking at the vines pale faced. 

“We gotta go -” Eddie says, pulling himself and Stan to their feet. 

“But which direction?” Stan says, pulling out the shield that doubled as a belt buckle, holding it in front of him and Eddie, who stood at the three way biting his lip, eyes flitting between each path. He heard the _thwip_! Of metal colliding with a vine, and he needed to hurry up and make a decision. He didn’t know how much longer Stan would be able to defend them from the vines. 

“This one!” Eddie yells, grabbing Stan by his wrist and yanking him down the middle path - Eddie hoped he chose correctly. They had to keep running, vines sprouted from the hedges as they ran by, snapping out at them. They dodged an weaved as they turned corner after corner, Eddie wasn’t sure how long they could keep it up. 

Eddie’s theory was correct, a gnarled vine snapping out at him but he wasn’t able to move out of the way in time, only having time to hold an arm in front of him, trying to protect his face. The vine licked across his arm, Eddie hissed as he felt a terrible burning sensation - but he kept running. 

“Oh no - Eddie, are you okay?” Stan asks breathlessly from behind him, panting heavily. 

“Yeah, I’ll be fine!” And he meant it, even though the stinging pain was still there, and he was pretty sure he was bleeding - he had much more important things to worry about, like finding Bill and getting out of there alive. 

“Now would be a great time for some Hades magic!” 

“Not going to argue that!” Because they were in trouble. Eddie had lead them into a dead end. But there was no shadow being cast at the end like there was before, and if what he did earlier really was traveling through the shadows, he was almost sure he needed an actual shadow to do it - “_ Fuuuuck _!” He whispers, the vines growing tall around them as they slowed down. Stan held his shield up, standing as close to Eddie as he could - he could see his arms shaking. 

Just then, a large crack sounded - like a giant _ bang _! And Eddie what he thought could be lightning shoot down some hundred yards away in another other part of the maze. Whatever it was, the vines were spooked by it, drawing back into the hedges. 

Eddie and Stan panted, holding still to make sure the danger had passed fully. They looked at each other, “Bill?” Eddie asked, tentatively. He didn’t know whether that lightning strike was random, or something conjured up by the maze (or maybe it was Bill himself) but either way, that’s where they needed to go. 

Stan gave Eddie a jerky nod, clearly he was freaked out or scared or something - but as far as Eddie was concerned, they could’ve been worse off. At least Eddie and Stan were together, they just needed to find Bill and get the hell out of there. 

Eddie worked faster this time, choosing paths. He was pretty sure on how to get to the lightning strike, it was just a matter of choosing the correct path that would actually bring them there. They were making good time and covering a lot of ground when they heard a yell, not too far away, Eddie’s tremors getting stronger and stronger at this point. 

They took off in a run, rounding a few corners and straight aways, coming face to face with Bill, a gleaming silver sword raised in front of him, he looked a little rough, like he had a run in with his own vines, some of his clothes torn with blood spotting some areas - but thankfully he didn’t look too bad. Stood opposite was the Minotaur, cut and bloodied but he was massive and made of pure muscle, so he was still standing strong. 

“Bill!”

“Bill!” 

Both Stan and Eddie yelled in unison, Bill was able to spare them a glance, looking relieved. “Y-you’re okay, both of you.” He says, reassured. Eddie just nods back, still breathless from all the sprinting. Bill turns his attention back to the Minotaur, who laughs darkly. 

“They won't be for long, halfblood.” The bull-man spit out, if he could grin, Eddie was sure he was grinning evilly now. 

Bill didn’t take the bait, his focus on the Minotaur, waiting for it to strike first. It was only a moment later that the bull leaned forward, his horns gleaming dangerously in the dim light of the maze. Then he charged. 

Bill tensed, but he knew what to do, amazingly. He leapt to the side, easily dodging the bull - as he did, he swiped at it with his great sword (Eddie was really curious to know exactly where that came from and how Eddie never noticed it), cutting a long gash on the bulls side. 

“_ Aaauuurrrgh _!” It yelled out, both out of frustration and pain, Eddie guessed. Bill was smirking triumphantly, and Eddie was just as impressed. The Minotaur panted angrily, staring Bill down, before he turned away, instead turning to where Eddie and Stan stood next to one another. It put its horns down and charged again, this time heading right towards Stanley, who looked terrified, instinctively holding up his shield in front of him. 

Bill was too far away to do anything, his face falling in shock as the Minotaur charged at Stanley. “Stan-!” He yelled, shocked and worried, he held out his great sword, pointing it towards the bull-man, brows furrowing and teeth gritting. 

It felt like Eddie was watching this in slow motion, totally frozen to the spot. As Bill pointed his sword, he yelled with effort, his face contorting angrily. Eddie watched wide eyed as a bolt of lightning cracked down from the sky, hitting the Minotaur. 

They impact of the lightning bolt hitting the bull sent Eddie flying backwards, he lands on the ground with a soft thud, groaning - his mind still trying to process that Bill - _ his Bill _ \- seemed to have called down a lightning bolt from the heavens just by using his sword. 

He lies still for a moment, trying to feel if he had any broken bones (or a concussion) from the fall, but he was sure he was fine (relatively speaking), so he sits up, slowly. 

He sees Stan on the ground, kind of kitty corner to where Eddie lays, kneeling on a single knee, shield in one hand, he stares across from him at Bill, who was heaving like he just ran two marathons. They both seemed okay (again, relatively speaking). Eddie, still trying to process everything, looked around somewhat francticly, looking for the murderous Minotaur that just attempted to impale his friend. 

“Where’d he go?” Eddie asks, eyes darting around the clearing they were in. 

Stan seemed reluctant to take his eyes away from Bill, who slowly sat onto the ground, exhausted. “Bill killed it.” 

Eddie looked over to Bill, mouth agape. Bill was crazy strong - how did Eddie miss it, all this time? Did he even know Bill at all? And - if he was a halfblood like Stan or Richie, then how come they didn’t know him? How was Bill this skillful but still a complete mystery?

“W-we need to get moving. We can’t s-stay here any longer.” Bill says, ignoring Eddie and Stan.

“So you’re not going to talk about what just happened? Stan asks, pointedly, eyes narrowing. Bill shook his head, avoiding Stan’s gaze. 

“We need to get out of here.” Bill says, standing up. 

“You can’t just pretend like you’re not the son of Zeus-” Stan replies with heat, standing up as well. 

“I’m not.” Bill interrupts, finally meeting Stan’s eyes. “It’s complicated, okay?”

“Bill.” Eddie says, standing up as well, walking towards the two other boys. “Did you know?” He asks, looking hard at Bill, who looks back at him, considering. Eddie scoffs, “you knew the whole time - what I was. Why didn’t you tell me - I was almost killed yesterday, did you know that, too?” Eddie knows it’s not fair. He knows that Bill never would’ve wanted him to be hurt, obviously. But - Richie got really hurt the fight with the monster snake, and maybe if Eddie had known who (or what) he was earlier, that never would’ve happened. 

“Eddie - it’s not that s-simple, I-I didn’t know w-wh-what would happen I-I-I _ fuck- _!” His stammering always got worse when he was upset, Eddie knew. He felt bad, as a result. Generally Bill had it under control, for the most part. Bill took in a deep breath. “Fine. Fine let's talk about it.” Bill said, defeated. “I’m the son of Jupiter.” He says, looking between Eddie and Stan, who looked at each other with an eyebrow raised. 

“You mean Zeus?” Stan asks, Bill shakes his head.

“No, I mean Jupiter.” Bill says, pulling a face that screamed ‘what are you, an idiot?’

“Aren’t they the same?” Eddie asks lamely. That’s what he learned from science classes anyways, Jupiter was named by the Romans, who named it for their God, who was basically Zeus with a different name. 

“No.”

“No.”

Stan and Bill said at the same time, Bill looked amused, giving Stan a small smile, but Stan must have been still mad about whatever, because he did not return the smile. Bill’s smile fell, he continued; “No, they’re different - technically. Like I said, it’s c-complicated. But I’m on a quest-”

“A quest?” Stan echoed, brows furrowed. “How? You’re not from Camp Halfblood.” 

“‘Camp Halfblood’? No - I’m from Camp Jupiter, in San Francisco. I was given a prophecy -”

“A prophecy?” Eddie asks, his mind immediately going to the one the others told him about. The one that mentioned him specifically. “How does it go?” Bill nods, 

“Yeah, I think it’s safe to tell you guys. I r-received it about a month ago-”

“Your camp has an oracle, too?” Stan asks curiously. 

“An oracle? No - all of our prophecies are engraved in the Temple of Jupiter. That’s how I got mine, it was m-made for me.” Bill says. Eddie didn’t know much about oracles or prophecies, just the little that Bev explained to him. Stan looked contemplative, this was obviously a lot for him to process. “Most warriors receive a quest within the first few years of them attending Camp Jupiter, it’s a chance for us to prove ourselves.” Bill adds. 

“Prove yourselves?” Stan asks, “most kids at Camp Halfblood never have to go on a quest.” Stan says to Bill, who looks surprised. 

“Anyways, the p-prophecy read; _ ‘You shall travel into lands unknown, to find the one whom Death’s bell toll. An endless maze you must traverse, to be apart would be adverse. With wisdoms help you’ll stay alive, to find an enemy whose death you strive. But distraction will spell disaster, as ones love is gone here after. _’” Bill finishes. 

They were silent for a moment, digesting the huge lump of information they were just given. Another prophecy - they hadn’t even figured out half of the first one they were given. Eddie could feel a migraine coming on, he thought, massaging his temples. 

“Would’ve been nice to know all of that before entering the maze…” Stan says, petulantly. Bill gave him an apologetic look. 

“That’s what you were asking earlier.” Eddie says to Bill, who nods. 

“I… I didn’t know for long, I swear. And I-I wasn’t even completely sure when I asked you - that you’re a son of Pluto.”

Eddie makes a face, “I’m not a son of Pluto - I’m the son of Hades.” And for the first time it seemed right, like just saying it made him feel all warm inside. Like it all just clicked inside of him. 

“Whoa.” Both Bill and Stan were staring at him, Eddie felt nervousness bubble in his chest, fearful of the reason they were staring at him with similar expressions.

“W-what? Why are you guys looking at me like that?” But they weren’t staring at him, not really. They were actually staring right above his head. Eddie looks up and is greeted with a black light that shines, a symbol that kind of looked like a two pronged fork with a circle in the center. It gently spun over his head for a few moments, before fading away. “What the fuck was that?” Eddie whispered, looking back at Bill and Stan, who smiled at him, gently. 

“Looks like you were officially claimed, Eddie.” Stan says. 

“Well, I officially solved the first part of the p-prophecy.” Bill says, jokingly. 

And… Eddie felt good. Right. Less afraid about the whole thing now that it finally felt real, and not like a weird dream he was going to wake up from. “Oh.” Is all Eddie can whisper. 

Bill claps a hand on his shoulder, still smiling. “Congrats, Eddie.” And Eddie just nods back, with a smile. “But really, w-we need to get o-out of here.” 

So they went to where Eddie and Stan had came from, following the trail of branches that Stan had left behind. Thankfully, it seemed that with the Minotaur gone, the maze was no longer attacking them or trying to trick them. They were all tired, that much was obvious. Eddie felt a little light headed, especially after using the shadows to travel through the maze. Eddie could see Bill stumble every so often, the lightning bolt must have taken a lot out of him - which Edde could understand. After he opened the rift to the Underworld, Eddie had _ fainted _. After about twenty minutes they found their way to the entrance. 

Eddie let out a relieved breath, thankful to get out of the hellhole they had been stuck in for way too long. 

When they stepped through the entrance, the darkness of the maze was gone, instead they were greeted with the morning sun, bright and shining down on them - Eddie had to shield his eyes. “Holy shit - how long were we in there?” Eddie asks, pulling out his phone. 

“_ Oh my god. _ ” Stan whispers behind him. Eddie, too, was shocked. The time on his phone read 8:17am, meaning they were technically in the maze for almost _ fifteen _hours! Not only that, but Eddie had a ton of missed calls and texts that were coming in now that he had service, a mix from Bev, Ben and Richie - but mostly from Richie. 

He scrolled them quickly,

**Richie 5:23pm**

**Ayeee eds how SEXY do i look?**

**[image]**

And _whoa_, Richie’s nose was fixed - the ugly purple and black bruising completely gone, back to it’s normal pale shade, it was no longer crooked and bent, now completely straight. He was back to wearing his thick rimmed glasses, but these weren’t the cracked ones from before - these were new, and Eddie thought they suited him quite nicely. 

**Richie 6:45pm**

**damn not that sexy huh?**

**Richie 7:15pm**

**did yall already have dinner? tell stan to reply to his fucking texts lol**

**Richie 7:35pm**

**eddie answer your door**

**Beverly 7:36pm**

**Are you okay?? pls tell me you’re okay**

**Richie 7:41pm**

**alrighty we’re going on an eddie and stan hunt now get ready eddie we’re comin for your ass**

**Beverly 7:48pm**

**When you get these PLS text back, we’re looking for you**

And they went on and on like that for hours. Eddie felt a pang of guilt even though none of this was his fault (he would’ve really rather not have gone into that hell maze, thanks). 

“Yeah, yeah it’s me - we’re all safe, Bev, we’re fine.” Eddie looked behind him at Stan, he was currently had his phone pressed to his ear. There was a pause, Eddie could practically hear Bev from the few feet away. 

“What is she saying?” Eddie whispered, Stan gave him a look that said ‘I’m on the phone - not now’ so Eddie tried to remain patient. “Okay, yeah. Yeah, alright - see you soon.” Then he hung up, Eddie gestured for him to hurry up and say what they were just talking about. “They’re on their way, they wanted to meet us here.” 

“They?” Bill asks sitting on a nearby bench, Eddie follows suit. 

“Oh yeah, there’s tons of us halfbloods here.” Eddie says, jokingly. 

Bill looked at him for a moment. “Huh.”

They weren’t kept waiting long, soon they saw the familiar three figures practically sprinting towards them. As they got closer, Eddie gave an awkward wave. 

“Sorry, guys-”

“What the fuck happened to you!” Richie practically screeches as he reaches Eddie, he grabs Eddie’s arm, surprisingly gently, holding it closer to inspect. “This is fucking nasty, dude!” 

“Yeah, well during your training session you didn’t exactly go over how to dodge asshole vines, did you?” Eddie quips back, but he’s smiling. Honestly happy to see Richie (and he must be exhausted with a thought like that). 

Richie laughs, his other hand coming to rest behind Eddie’s neck. “We’ll have to add it to the curriculum.” Eddie reaches a hand up, finger tips gently brushing over Richie's nose. "Whoa there - you got a concussion or something, Eds?" Richie asks with a strained chuckle, and Eddie pulls his hand away, suddenly embarrassed for even doing that. 

"Just - your face." Eddie says, gesturing to his nose. 

Richie grins, "good as new, right?" 

And there's about a hundred jokes and jobs Eddie could come up with, but he's way too exhausted so he just smiles and nods.

“What _ happened _?” Beverly asks, running up to Stan and giving him a light hug. “And- who is this?” She’s looking at Bill, who’s standing there somewhat awkwardly, out of his element. 

“That’s Bill.” Eddie says, pulling away from Richie and walking a few steps closer to Bill. “He’s - he’s my roommate and friend.” Bill gives everyone a smile, looking specifically at Bev, Ben and Richie. Bev and Ben smile back, of course, but Richie just crosses his arms, to Eddie’s befuddlement. “Oh - and I guess, most importantly he’s like us.”

Bill steps forward, “I’m the son of Jupiter.”

There’s a beat of silence. 

“You’re the son of a fucking planet?” Richie asks, and Eddie could really start to feel that migraine. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! Long chapter, over 12.5k words! I considered chopping it up, but there was no good place for that, so I hope you all like long chapters! I'm posting this super early because I will be very, very busy with film school these next couple of weeks so I wanted to finish this up quickly in the free time I had. 
> 
> And we have our final reveal(kinda)! I don't remember anyone guessing Jupiter, but there were a few of you who guessed Zeus, so good job :) If you're curious why I had him be Roman and not Greek, it's pretty much just because Bill is more intense than the other losers, imo, and Camp Jupiter is much more strict and serious, like Bill.  
Me while writing this fic: no way am i doing anything with the Roman's way too complicated lmao  
Me now: fuck.
> 
> And we have another prophecy! man, those are surprisingly fun to write. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I'd love to hear what you all thought <3 Thanks for reading!
> 
> Prophecy one:  
“The son of Death, remains untold,  
Three trials he cannot face alone.  
The martyred son of Mars makes his last stand,  
Only to fall to the tricksters hand.  
Seven united or die as one,  
To defeat the evil that claims its won.  
Sky and Earth together fight better,  
To defeat Earth’s last storm forever.”
> 
> Prophecy two:  
"You shall travel into lands unknown,  
to find the one whom Death’s bell toll.  
An endless maze you must traverse,  
to be apart would be adverse.  
With wisdoms help you’ll stay alive,  
to find an enemy whose death you strive.  
But distraction will spell disaster,  
as ones love is gone here after."


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They find the seventh halfblood.

They decided to (stealthily) run back to Eddie and Bill’s dorm room before a teacher or student caught them in the gardens, the three who were missing up until a few minutes ago looked like they were stranded in the forests for weeks - Eddie had that gnarly wound on his arm, but he was taking like a champ, Richie was thoroughly impressed. The Eddie he met a week or so ago would’ve been having a full blown panic attack by now. They were all covered in dirt and twigs, Bill also wasn’t looking super great - he was covered in scrapes and bruises, smaller cuts as well. Thankfully, Stan seemed relatively unharmed, physically, at least. He was awfully quiet, even by Stan’s standards. 

They chose Eddie and Bill’s room because Eddie claimed to have a good enough first aid kit to patch them up, they couldn’t go to the nurse for obvious reasons - there was no earthquake to excuse their bleeding. So that’s where they went. 

The uninjured ones tried their best to make a sort of blockade, or shield around Eddie, Bill and Stan - so they wouldn’t be seen by wandering students or teachers. It was breakfast time, Richie knew, so there was a distinct lack of bodies wandering the grounds, which they all counted as a blessing. 

They managed to make it to the room unseen, Eddie and Bill took a seat on Bill’s bed (Eddie refusing to dirty his own). 

“Over there, on the side of the shelf.” Eddie said to Bev, giving her directions for his first aid kit. The room was small for a group of six, but they were making it work. Stan stood off to the side silently, letting Bev take the lead with fixing the other two up. 

Now that the adrenaline buzz of the night was wearing off - for all of them, despite half of their group not having to spend the night in the hellish maze (Eddie’s words), Richie, Bev and Ben did spend all night trying to find them, so they were running on fumes as well. 

Beverly knelt in front of Eddie, using a cotton pad that was dipped in alcohol to dab at the edges of the laceration on Eddie’s upper arm - he winced, but otherwise was taking it like a champ. Ben was in front of Bill, helping him clean up his scratches and what not, Bill seemed nonplussed about the whole thing in general. 

Richie, with nothing else to do, crossed his arms, looking at the apparent Roman that sat three feet from him. Bill must have felt that he was being scrutinized, because he looked up, meeting Richie’s eyes. He seemed to understand what Richie was thinking, which was ‘so are we going to talk about the bombshell you dropped or nah?’ Bill sighed, looking away. 

“I don’t know where to start.” Bill says with a shrug, Richie has to fight an eye roll. 

“How about what you told us in the maze?” Eddie says, finishing wrapping up his arm with Bev’s assistance. “Y’know, about why you’re here and all that.” 

Bill nods, “okay.” And he proceeds to tell the group another stupid, rhyming prophecy - Richie is pretty sure he’s reached his quota, for the rest of his life, thanks. They sat in silence for a moment, everyone taking it in. 

“Well, at least half of the prophecy has already happened.” Bev says, “_ You shall travel into lands unknown, to find the one whom Death’s bell tolls.’” _ She recites.

“You’re from California,” Eddie supplies. “You’ve never been to New York?” Bill shakes his head. 

“And he found Eddie.” Ben pipes in, gesturing to the other boy. “And all the maze stuff, too.” 

“'_With wisdoms help you’ll stay alive’...” _ Bev mumbles, reciting the next part of the prophecy. All heads turn to Stan, who has been as silent as ever, standing with his arms held to his side. He snaps out of whatever thought he had, looking around at the rest of them.

“I didn’t help with anything.” Stan says, somewhat defensively, as he was prone to do. 

Eddie scoffs, “you were the one who led us out of the maze, man! And, I mean, aren’t you the son of Athena? Also known as wisdom?” Eddie teased, Stan seemed to soften somewhat. From beside Eddie, Bill smiled.

“A-Athena? She’s known as Minerva, to us. She suits you.” And if Richie didn’t know any better, he swore he could see Stan’s cheeks flush pink.

“Oh.” Stan says lamely, glancing away and back at the floor. Ben distracted from the awkward silence that followed, bless that boy. 

“‘_To us _’ you said? I’m pretty new to all of this, but these guys never mentioned the Roman Gods.” Ben says.

“Yeah, well up until thirty minutes ago we didn’t actually think they were a _ thing _.” Bev says, eyeing Bill. 

“W-well, to be fair - no one told me that I’d be teaming up with a b-bunch of Greek halfbloods, either.” Bill said, jokingly. 

“So George - is he, y’know, the son of Zeus - er, Jupiter too?” Eddie asks, which was a good point. If they were still thinking about their prophecy (which Richie, unfortunately, was) than they currently had six halfbloods in the room, one less than what they needed. If Bill’s little brother was a halfblood too, then their ranks would be complete and they could finally get the hell out of this school.

Bill shakes his head, “No - he’s my halfbrother, on my mom’s side. Different dad.” Richie could practically see the tension everyone had dissipated. “W-what?” Bill asks, noticing it too.

“It’s just - we received a prophecy, too.” Bev says. Bill’s eyebrows knitted together, clearly surprised. Bev proceeded to recite their own prophecy. By the end of it, Bill bit the bottom of his lip in thought. “So, yeah. We were thinking that if your brother was like us, then we’d have the seven of us together.” Bev said with a shrug. The point was moot, his brother was mortal. 

“We’ll just have to keep looking?” Ben asks.

Richie scoffs, “yeah, that’s been going great so far.” He says, and he’s not trying to sound like a pessimistic asshole - but. He glances over at Eddie, who’s studying his hands at the moment. The gauze on his arm was already tinting pink in a blotchy, uneven pattern. He can see the bags under his eyes, he looked more pale than normal which - _ duh _. He’d been running through a maze for like, ten fucking hours straight.

Beverly snaps her head over to him, green eyes narrowed into a chilly glare. “Well, _ Richie _, I’d say that it’s actually going pretty great.” 

“And how do you figure that, _ Beverly _?” Richie says back. 

“Well, I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but we have six of us-”

“Oh, thanks for doing the hard math for me, Bev, very much appreciated.”

“Jesus, Rich - there’s nothing else we can do but wait, okay?” Beverly practically through her hands in the air, and okay - maybe Richie was being an (huge) asshole about this but he had a point! It was only getting more dangerous the longer they stayed. 

“I’m just saying - there’s no way that the fucking yellowed eyed monster hasn’t figured out exactly what group of halfbloods are killing its monsters-”

“Yellow eyed?” Eddie asks, interrupting Richie’s rant. Richie pauses, eyes shifting to Bev.

“Did we not tell you?” She asks. Eddie shakes his head, eyes narrowed. “In the dream where I was given the prophecy there were these huge yellow eyes - like, the size of a house - just looking at me. And then there was a mouth that was lined with teeth sharper and more jagged than knives. It was awful.” She shivered. 

“Yeah.” Eddie mumbles, “yeah I think I know exactly what you’re talking about.”

“What do you mean?” Richie asks. Eddie looks up, the dark circles under his eyes more apparent than ever. 

“This is going to sound fucking crazy, okay?” There was a warning tone in his voice, like he was nervous to talk about it, daring Richie to make fun of him for what he was about to say (which - fair, usually, but Richie’s been up for over twenty-four hours at this point, and he was fairly certain he didn’t have the brain cells to be funny at the moment). Richie gives a jerky nod and Eddie continues; “It was last week, and it was dark and I was alone. Then… I kind of felt something - but I can’t describe it. Just like, like a feeling of being in danger. And then, the next thing I know, I’m running head first into the principal.” 

The principal - how could Richie have forgotten about that creep? The guy was too tall and too weird, he basically screamed “monster”. 

“He was - _ creepier _than normal, if that was possible.” Eddie continues.

“How?” Bev asks, leaning forward.

“Well for starters, that fucker smelled me!” Eddie yelled, throwing his hands in the air. 

“Pfft, kinky.” Richie snorted, Eddie whipped his head toward him, scowling. Richie held his hands up in a sort of surrender. 

“And then - he was looking at my ring,” Eddie’s hand phantom mimed rubbing the ring, Richie remembered him saying he had it since he was a kid, Richie wouldn’t have been surprised if Eddie didn’t even realize he was currently doing his old habit. “He said I was ‘odd’ and... “ Eddie trailed off, his face scrunching up. Richie really must have been tired, because man - it was _ adorable _. They all waited for him to continue on his own. “And it was his eyes - I thought I was just being paranoid, or imagining things, but his eyes were a bright yellow. Like a wolf, but scarier. And there were teeth. I thought they were sharp - but, it was dark so I couldn’t tell.” 

“I remember that night.” Bill adds, leaning towards Eddie. “I was walking nearby and caught sight of y-you. You looked terrified.” 

Eddie nods, “I was terrified.” 

“So Principal Smart-” Richie starts.

“Wise.” Ben corrects.

“Is the big bad monster you saw in your dreams?” Richie asks Bev, he’s aiming for nonchalant and unbothered, but he is, in fact, is feeling very bothered. If he was the monster, the great big something they were running from, then he was closer to them than he was comfortable with. If Eddie didn’t have that ring when he ran into the Principal, when Eddie had no clue who he was - he could have easily died. And that was a scary thought. 

“We don’t know for sure.” She replies. Bill shot her a look, 

“But Eddie j-just said - _ we _ ran into him, he wasn’t normal. I could _ feel _it.” Bill argued.

“We need more to go on than just a - no offense, Eddie - a glimpse in the dark. It’s not that I don’t believe you, it’s just that if he’s as bad and dangerous as we think he is, we’ll need real proof.” Beverly explains. 

The room once again fell into silence. 

“Hey,” Stan says, speaking up for the first time in awhile. Richie turned to look at him, but Stan was eyeing Bill, or more specifically his bare arm (free from plaid in what Richie thought was probably a very long time). “Bill, what’s on your arm?” Stan practically charged over, reaching out and (gently) grabbing Bill’s right forearm. Richie didn’t notice before, but there were two parallel black lines on the pale skin. 

“Wow Bill, you got ink?” Richie jokes, Bill spared him a look before turning back to Stan, who was still inspecting the tattoos (if you could call two lines a tattoo).

“At Camp Jupiter we receive these at the end of summer, sort of a ‘congratulations! You lived another year!’ kind of thing.” Bill explained.

“Wow, that’s pretty fuckin’ metal, dude.” Richie says, because at Camp Halfblood they did something similar - at the end of the summer they received a charm, but honestly Richie had no idea where his were. Probably at the bottom of some drawer in his room, he never really cared for a charm bracelet or necklace, not the way Bev did, at least. She wore her charms around her wrist. But if they were tattoos? Sign Richie up!

Bill chuckled, “I g-guess.” 

Stan looked at Bill, his grey eyes piercing. “I’ve seen this before.” Bill raised an eyebrow. “On Henry Bowers, except he had five of them.” Bill winced, gently pulling his arm away from Stan, who’s eyes narrowed. “You knew who he was the whole time, didn’t you? Is that why you two are at each other's throats all the time?” 

“W-wait, Stan,”

“So he knows who we are-“ Stan was on a roll, and Richie would’ve been impressed if he wasn’t so confused. 

“Slow down, guys!” Eddie practically yells, stopping Stan’s interrogation. “Let Bill speak, okay?” Eddie says it slowly, trying his best to not agitate Stan any further (which, good luck, Richie could almost see the burning anger in Stan’s slate grey eyes), but Stan concedes, letting Bill speak. 

Bill sends a grateful glance to Eddie, “we don’t know each other, if that’s what you’re getting at.” Stan looks away, glaring at the floorboards instead. “He’s got… a reputation, back at Camp. It’s true we come from the same place, but he was exiled the summer before I came. We don’t know each other, not really. I only knew _ of _him, before coming here. I’m like, 95% sure he doesn’t know I’m from the same Camp.” Stan looked doubtful. “If he did, our fights would be a lot w-worse, I swear.” 

Stan seemed to believe him, the tension dissipating from his shoulders, but he didn’t look happy. “Why didn’t you just say something?” He asks, after a moment of silence. 

Bill shrugs, “I wasn’t thinking about it, honest.”

“Why was he exiled? As far as I know, know one from our Camp has ever had that happen.” Bev asks, looking at Richie with a raised eyebrow - silently asking him if someone was ever exiled or banned, he shook his head, because no. As far as he was aware that hadn’t happened at Camp.

Bill huffed a humorless laugh, “have you met the guy? H-he’s crazy, I’m sure of it. He did bad things, to the other campers and even said and did unspeakable things to the Gods. His father was forced to exile him.” 

“Who had the pleasure of creating that spawn?” Richie says with a snort.

“Mars, I think.” 

It’s like a light bulb went off in all of their heads, collectively. “‘_ The martyred son of Mars’ _ of course…” Bev whispers. “We weren’t aware of the Roman God’s, but now we know. We need to keep an eye on him - even if he’s not a monster himself-“ 

“Debatable.” Richie chimes in, Bev ignores him.

“He was seen with the other two monsters that’s come after Eddie so far.” Richie’s eyes flickered to Eddie, who looked so tired at this point that Richie wouldn’t have been surprised if he fell asleep. “And besides that, he knows what we are, probably. So I’m imposing a buddy system.”

“A _ what _?” Stan asks.

“A _ buddy _system. We need to make sure none of us are ever alone so they can’t catch us off guard while we look for the final halfblood. We got lucky yesterday, that Stan and Bill were with Eddie, and that Richie was with him last time, but the monsters are only getting stronger.” Bev explained, and it made sense. Honestly, Richie would never admit it out loud, but he didn’t do so hot in the last face off against one of those fuckers, he didn’t really want a round two. No one objected. “Alright, so we’ll just have to organize it based on class schedule, and make sure to avoid Bowers and especially Principal Wise, he’s still a big question mark, okay?”

They all agreed. 

“I do have a question, though.” Bill says, his eyes drifting to Eddie. “Why are they a-after you?” Eddie’s brown eyes seemed to get wider for a moment before they shifted downward, looking at the bedding. “I mean, you were mentioned I’m both prophecies, Eddie, that’s-“

“Awful?” Eddie supplies.

“- _ interesting _.” Bill finishes. Eddie looks bashful, avoiding the eyes of everyone in the room. 

“We don’t know why, either.” Bev says, once it’s clear Eddie had nothing more to add. “But one thing is certain, he’s passed two trials, and one remains. We need to make sure we’re being especially vigilant, hence the buddy system.”

“Oh fuck, first periods going to start soon.” Eddie said, practically hopping to his feet.

“Whoa, there Eds!” Richie said, holding his hands out in front of him like Eddie was a scared horse. Eddie glared at him.

“It’s _ Eddie _ \- do I need to spell it for you?”

Richie ignored him, “you can’t seriously be thinking about going to class? After 13 hours of straight running from monsters?” Richie was probably looking at Eddie like he was crazy, because he _ was _.

“If I’m not in class they could call my mom! I can’t deal with that shit-“

“Oh and showing up looking like you haven’t slept in a day and spent the night in the woods _ wouldn’t _get a call home?” Richie argued.

“I don’t look _ that _bad.” Eddie grumbled, practically pouting - it was almost adorable, if not for the fact that he really did look awful. 

“You look as adorable as a mangy kitten right now, Eds.”

“_ Fuck _ you, Rich.” But it’s lacking any bite and Richie can’t ignore the beat his heart skips at the nickname. 

“He’s right, Eddie - you need rest, we _ all _need rest.” Bill says, and it was true, Richie was exhausted and he could tell Ben and Bev were, too. Never mind how beat up and tired the other three were. 

Eddie’s shoulders sagged, he clearly was giving up the battle. “_ Fine _, napping till lunch but I can’t skip the afternoon classes or my mom will literally drive up here for a welfare check, and I’m not fucking dealing with that.” 

So it was a deal. They split up, Ben staying with Bill and Eddie because of the buddy system, it wasn’t a good idea to leave him alone, even if the kid wasn’t as big of a target as Eddie, or even Bill (did being the son of Jupiter make you the son of one of the big three? Richie had no fucking idea). Bev headed back with Richie and Stan. Sharing Richie’s bed, which was no big deal. The beds were bigger than the ones they had back at Camp (well, at least the Hermes cabins, Richie was sure that Bev had a large king size memory foam mattress all to herself, she _ was _the only halfblood daughter of the Queen of Olympus, after all), and Stan looked like he needed the space. He still looked a little grumpy and sullen, but it was probably because of the extraordinarily long day he had. 

As soon as Richie’s head hit the pillow, he was out. 

  
  


He wakes up hours later, the sun bright and showering their room in a hazy orange. It took him a minute to orient himself - he grabs his new glasses off of the side table clumsily, putting them on so the world was less of a blur. 

The next thing he realized was that the space next to him was empty. His heart lurched for a second, remembering the frantic searching for their vanished friends yesterday and - 

“She left a couple of hours ago, met up with the others to go to lunch and classes.” Stan’s voice soothes the underlying panic he was experiencing. Richie checks the alarm clock in their room for the time and realizes with a sense of joy that is was almost 3 o’clock, meaning he managed to sleep through all of his classes. _ Nice _ . “I volunteered to be your _ buddy _for the day, didn’t think you’d sleep for so long.” There was a hint of teasing in his voice, so Richie didn’t feel bad. 

Stan was stationed at his desk, a pile of books placed in front of him, spread out. He was clearly doing homework. Richie snorts, “you do realize that we’re not going to be here forever, right?” Richie said, nodding towards the pile in front of Stan. 

Stan looked down at the homework, then back at Richie with a shrug. “I like to keep busy.” He shut the book he was working on with a snap, almost startling Richie, who was still dazed from sleeping for so long. “Anyways, you should get ready. And please, do us all a favor and shower.” 

Richie pulled a face, “Why?”

“While you were getting your beauty sleep, everyone decided it would be a good idea if we’d all get together again for another training session after classes.” 

“Oh.” 

So he got ready, took a long shower at Stan’s behest (which, he needed and was going to anyways, despite Stan’s insistence, Richie was not an animal) and they were soon out the door. They decided to swing by the cafeteria and beg for some leftover lunch, Richie wasn’t too keen on having Bev magic up some food, it was 50/50 whether or not it’d be edible and he didn’t want to take any chances. 

The walk wasn’t long, but it was fairly quiet, mostly filled with Richie’s endless rambling. It was a few minutes before Stan contributed more than a grunt. 

“How long have you been at Camp, Richie?” He asks, randomly. 

“Uh, about eight years, I guess.” Richie said, after a moment of thought. “Why?” He glanced over at Stan, whose head was downcast, eyes glued to the concrete they walked on. 

“Has… has there ever been a halfblood incorrectly claimed?” Stan says, Richie furrows his brows at the odd question.

“What-?”

“Just answer the question.” Stan says, cutting him off. He sounded serious - well, more serious than his usual seriousness. 

“If you’re asking if a God has ever claimed someone else's child? No. I don’t think so, anyways. Pretty sure Gods always know who exactly their children are.” Richie says, “Why?” He’s trying to ask is casually, because he knows that any over insistence will cause Stan to close up and shut Richie out. 

“Because…” he sounded so meek and quiet. “Because sometimes I don’t feel like the son of Athena.” He finishes, and Richie feels like he just had the worst whiplash of his life - he didn’t know what he was expecting Stan to say, maybe he had a crazy theory about the prophecy or something, but he didn’t expect _ that _. 

“Oh. Um, why?” He internally cringes at how terrible that sounded, but Stan doesn’t seem to notice.

“Because I didn’t do _ anything _ in that maze! I was the first one to get lost, _ me _ \- I’m _ supposed _ to be the smart one, Richie. I’m supposed to be _ brave _, but as soon as the monster even so much as looked at me I froze up. If it wasn’t for Bill I would’ve been skewered on the Minotaur's horns.” His voice is raised by the end of the rant, his chest heaving slightly. “Hell, even Eddie - who’s so new to all of this - did better than me, he outsmarted the beast! He got away, when all I did was hide and wait for one of them to come find me.” Stan’s hands are clenched into shaking fists.

For the first time in a long time, Richie is at a loss for words. He was used to Stan’s stoicism, his controlled emotions - so seeing them on full display caught Richie off guard, to say the least. “But Bill and Eddie said that you helped them get out -” It wasn’t the right thing to say. Stan barks out a laugh, humorless and empty. 

“_ Ha _! They were just being nice. You weren’t there, Richie.”

“But-”

“I’m done talking about this, lets just hurry up.” Stan walks faster, leaving a gaping Richie in his wake. Richie sighs, but follows after. Stan made it clear that he wasn’t going to talk about it anymore, and Richie wasn’t exactly jumping at the chance to argue and get deep about Stan’s personal issues - Richie was sure he would say the wrong thing anyways (he always did), so he let it go. 

The rest of the journey to the cafeteria was made in silence. Once they arrived, Richie did his best at sweet-talking the lunch lady into giving them a couple of sandwiches left over from lunch, and they ate them on the walk to the forest, where the rest of their group was waiting. 

That was the plan, anyways.

“Fuck-!” Richie hissed, grabbing Stan by the arm and hauling him around the edge of a nearby building. 

“What the hell -” Richie clamped a hand over Stan’s mouth, who’s eyes narrowed into a venomous glare, usually Richie would be maybe a little intimidated because Stan was kind of scary when he was mad, but they had bigger things to worry about. Richie pointing a finger from his unoccupied hand in the direction where potential monster maniac stood - aka Principal Wise. He was with someone else, talking in a hushed whisper, but Richie didn’t get a good look before running around the corner. 

There was a sharp intake of breath from Stan as he looked in the direction Richie was pointing. He looked back at Richie, grey eyes filled with panic. Richie held the finger over his lips in a ‘be quiet’ gesture, Stan nodded and Richie removed the hand from his mouth. 

Richie took a deep, calming breath before looking back around the corner, slowly and carefully. There stood the Principal, too tall and creepy, he was talking to someone - but they were hidden by the edge of the wall Richie was hiding behind, so he had to creep out further in order to get a good look at him. 

He did, slowly and his breath caught in his throat at the sight of it - there was a monster not five feet from the Principal. Standing tall and terrifying was a beast that was almost as tall as the Principal, it was covered in rough looking fur, and had razor sharp claws and an elongated snout, full of sharp and jagged teeth. 

Richie pulled back with a silent gasp, clasping a hand over his own mouth. Stan looked at him questioningly, Richie just shook his head, so Stan took a peek himself - Richie was honestly expecting the guy to cry with fear, but he pulled back a moment later, looking at Richie with questioning eyes. 

“Did you see the fucking werewolf, Stanley?” Richie whispers, incredulous - because if Stan wasn’t scared of lycanthropes like a normal person, maybe he was a son of Athena after all. 

“No? I only see the Principal and that Victor kid.” Stan whispers back, and - what? So Richie takes another look, and there stands the Principal and the werewolf, talking like they were old friends. 

“What the fuck.” He pulls back and Stan is looking at him like he’s grown a second head. Then, like a light bulb going off in his head, he remembers yesterday and what his dad had given him. ‘_ they have the unique ability to see through petty disguised and instead see the truth. _’ Is what his dad had said when he gave Richie his new glasses. “Wait -” He slides the glasses off of his face, peeking around the corner again. Everything was blurry as fuck, but now he saw it. Where the werewolf once stood was now Victor Criss, standing next to Principal Wise. 

Holy shit. He made a mental note to thank is father, but now he knew they were dangerously close to overstaying their welcome. He put his glasses on and gestured to Stan that they were going to go the other way, very far around the two. Stan followed. 

Once they were far enough away, Stan finally broke the silence. “Are you going to explain now, or-”

“My dad gave me these bitchin’ glasses! I didn’t know what they did, at first, but now I know they can basically see monsters true forms.” Richie explained, pointing to the black rimmed glasses that he wore. 

“Hermes gave those to you?” Stan asks, with some sort of emotion that Richie can’t name. 

“Yup, yesterday actually. And get this - I saw Criss there, in his fucking werewolf form or whatever, but the Principal. He was his normal, creepy self.” Stan looked thoughtful.

This discovery changes things, Richie thought. For one, they knew that Criss was a monster, officially. Which was good news. However, they had been so sure that their Principal was a monster, too. But according to Richie’s magical, God given glasses - he wasn’t. 

“We need to tell the others.” 

“Yeah, no shit.” 

  
  


They practically sprinted to the forest, the rest of their group were all already there. Bill stood with Ben and Eddie, holding a giant greatsword in both his hands (Richie wanted to make a ‘compensating for something?’ joke, but he was a little out of breath and they kind of needed to share the info they just learned. But he would save it for later).

“Finally! What took you two so long?” Eddie calls out, turning away from Bill at Richie and Stan’s arrival. 

“Aw, was lil’ Spaghetti waiting for me?” Okay. He said he was in a hurry earlier, but Eddie just made it _ so easy _. And the way his tan skin turned red, his big brown eyes flashing with annoyance - it was worth it. Eddie opens his mouth to shout out some sort of insult, but Stan beats him to it, elbowing Richie’s ribs - a little harder than necessary, he gives him a look.

“We ran into the Principal and Criss.” Stan says, causing the group to collectively gasp. It sounded way more dramatic than it was, but Richie didn’t mind. He grinned, proceeding to explain what just happened, maybe playing up his glasses a bit more than necessary.

“So you’re sure that the Principal wasn’t a monster?” Bev asks, and Richie nods. She sighs, “Well, he was seen with Criss, so that doesn’t rule him out as being an accomplice. Maybe He’s an older halfblood?” She suggests, but eh, that didn’t feel right.

“Could he be a God?” Ben asks. 

“What about a Titan?” Richie says, spit balling. 

“All of the Titans were locked away thousands of years ago. And maybe a God, but I don’t know what kind of God would be ordering around a bunch of monsters and a disgraced, exiled Roman halfblood.” Stan said, crossing his arms.

“Maybe he’s just a really powerful monster and your glasses can’t see through his disguise?” Eddie said. 

“Are you dissing my glasses, Eds?”

“You know that’s not what I’m saying, dipshit.”

“I’ll have you know that these are practically the _ Raybans _ of Godly eye wear!”

“You know what? Never fucking mind. Forget I said anything.” Eddie threw his arms in the air, turning away from Richie, who cackled. Way too easy. 

They spit balled a few more ideas around in between training. This time Bill took the lead, and as much as Richie was loathe to admit it - he was _ good _ . Maybe it was being the son of Jupiter, or maybe it was just that Roman training was a little more hardcore than what they did at Camp Halfblood, but he could wield his sword like a pro. There was something about the way he moved that was more _ militaristic _than what Bev, Stan and Richie were taught. But he was good. They mostly just go over drills, Eddie and Ben are fairly decent at swords play, about as good as any halfblood Richie had trained before. 

Somewhere in there, Eddie reveals that he learned a new trick, courtesy of his lineage. 

“I’m sorry Eds, but that sounds made up as hell.” Richie says with a laugh, but he believes him. He’d never met a child of Hades before, but traveling through shadows? Why not! But Eddie had sounded a little meek when he explained it, like he didn’t expect himself to be able to do it again, that it was a fluke. And Richie had gotten a handle on the fact that spite was a good motivator for Eddie.

“Don’t call me that, and it’s not made up, asshole!” Eddie snaps back, his face all scrunched up. 

“Prove it, then.” Richie says with a shrug.

“You want me to prove it to you?”

“Did I stutter, Eds?”

“Fine!” And the next thing they know Eddie is practically sprinting at a tree (and suddenly Richie is very worried) and they all brace for an impact that never comes, Eddie disappears through the shadow.

“Holy shit.” Richie whispers. And with and _ ‘oof _!’ He’s flat on his back, a weight on top of him.

“How’d you like that, motherfucker?” And Richie can’t help but wheeze in delightful laughter because it was _ incredible _. Eddie must have traveled to the tree’s shadow that Richie had stood under while he stared at the spot Eddie had just vanished from. His uncontrollable laughter spreads to Eddie, who ends up on the ground next to him, keeled over in a fit of giggles. He can see the rest of his group laughing to and it felt good. Like they weren’t being hunted by monsters and quickly running out of time to find the last of their ranks. The prophecies never really left Richie’s mind - and he doubted it was different for the others. But it was nice. Nice to feel like the world's scariest monster wasn’t hot on their heels.

They called it for the day, heading to dinner as a big group. 

Dinner was uneventful, but still fun. Stan seemed to be better at this point, talking to Ben about whatever Greek history stuff the nerds were into. Richie was next to Bev, who was talking to Bill across from her about the differences between Camp Halfblood and Camp Jupiter (turns out: a lot), and Richie was monopolizing all of Eddie’s attention.

“What’s it like?” Richie asks over a mouthful of food. Eddie looks disgusted, his mouth down turned at the corners as he stares at Richie in what he assumes is horror.

“What’s what like?” He echoes.

“Traveling through shadows and shit.” Richie explains with an eye roll because _ duh _what else would he be asking about?

“Oh, well it’s like walking through darkness, kinda. And there are like, points of light - kind of like a one way mirror? That I can exit through. Short distances, anyways - I don’t think I’m ready for any cross country travel yet.” Eddie said with a chuckle. 

“Huh.” 

Eddie clears his throat, “what about you? You can fly - what’s that like?” 

Richie grinned devilishly, “flying’s literally the best, Eds, easily blows your shadow shit right outta the water.” Eddie rolls his eyes dramatically. “I could always take you on a spin, ya know.” Richie says, and he’s a little nervous and he’s not sure why, he’s flown with other people before - hell he’s flown Stan more times this month than anyone ever before!

“Don’t take him up on that offer if you know what’s good for you, Eddie.” Beverly says, now looking between the two. “He totally dropped me. I sprained my ankle because of him.” Richie’s jaw drops,

“I was thirteen! You were my first test flight - by the way, she was really heavy- _ ow! _” Richie flinches back with a laugh away from Beverly’s harmless slap, she’s grinning but shaking her head.

“I wasn’t heavy, idiot, you just have no upper arm strength to speak of!” 

Richie places a hand over his heart, “oh you wound me so! But puberty has hit me _ hard _ since then, Bev, check out _ these _ bad boys!” Richie flexes both his arms with a grin, impressed with himself because _ damn _his arms looked good.

“Pfft!” Beverly bursts into laughter, keeling over she puts her face in the crook of her elbow, shoulders shaking. Bill is politely covering his mouth with one hand. 

“There’s nothing there, Rich!” Eddie laughs out, and Richie can feel his face flush but he’s laugh alongside them. 

“Just carve out some time in your schedule this weekend and I will show you the time of your life, baby.” Richie said to Eddie with a wink. Eddie’s smile disappeared from his face, and Richie felt a little panic - he was just joking, but was it too much? “Eds?” He asks quietly.

“It’s just. The weekend - I completely forgot, but I have to go home on weekends. What are we going to do?” Eddie looks at Richie like he knows exactly what they should do. Which he doesn’t, because he, too, forgot that Eddie left for the weekends. “If I go home by myself, won’t that be a perfect time for them to attack me?” Richie can see the panic in his eyes, hear the slight quickening of his breath. Richie reaches out on instinct, gripping Eddie’s forearm tightly, but not enough to hurt him.

“Hey, it’s okay! We’ll figure it out.” And Eddie nodded jerkily, but he doesn’t look convinced. 

“You can say we have a project due on Monday that you need to work on?” Bill suggests from next him, putting a hand on his shoulder. “S-she knows me, kind of.”

Eddie shakes his head, “you guys don’t get it - it’s a miracle I’m even in a boarding school in the first place. This was practically the last place that would take me, that’s the only reason.” 

“Well, we have two more days to brainstorm ideas? I’m sure we’ll think of something.” Bev says with a calming smile.

They didn’t think of anything better. In the end they went with plan A, dressed Bill up in Stan’s nice polos and khakis (Richie couldn’t believe that one guy owned so much plaid and ripped jeans - and he said at much, before Stan reminded him just how many clashing Hawaiian themed shirts he own, which. Fair.) to make him give off a better impression than “hipster wannabe punk rock kid” since Eddie had mentioned Bill to his mother the most. 

“Don’t we have a plan B?” Eddie asks, he looked like he was dreading everything about their plan. 

“Well, plan B is following you home and kidnapping you, Eds - which I, for one, think is a lot more fun!”

He’s met with an eye roll.

“Everyone’s a critic.”

So there they were, two days later. They hadn’t actually seen Bowers, Criss or the Principal at all, not since Stan and Richie had their little run in. They didn’t know if that was a good thing, or a terribly ominous foreboding sign that they were planning something unspeakably evil. 

So they ignored it. Instead focusing on quelling Eddie’s anxiety over his mother (Richie remembered the woman from last week, and if she was picking him up, he’d have anxiety too) and trying to think of better plans. They didn’t do great in either department, but there was little they could do about it now. Beverly, specifically, had been trying her best to find any leads on any other halfbloods, but she’d been unsuccessful. In their spare time half of them hit the training grounds (Bill, Richie, Ben and Eddie) while Bev and Stan hit the library, trying to just. Learn more? Who knows - Richie didn’t pay attention to what they were doing, really. 

The six of them were all nonchalantly standing behind a wall that concealed them from the pickup and drop off area. Eddie took a deep breath, muttering under his breath “it’s going to be fine, she’ll say yes” a few times, he was either trying to calm himself down, or hype himself up - Richie couldn’t tell. 

Then his cellphone rang, Eddie visibly tensed before he pulled it out. “That’s her, she’s here.” They all nodded, and stayed quiet for him to answer it. “Hello? Okay… yes, I’ll be there in a minute. Okay. Love you too, bye.” Then he hung up. It would’ve seemed like a normal conversation, if Eddie didn’t seem so freaked out, which was a huge red flag. Eddie took in a deep breath. “Okay, Bill.” 

Bill nodded, giving Eddie a comforting smile. “N-no one is more charming than me, Eddie.” Richie snorted, earning him an elbow in the side by both Beverly _ and _Stan. 

Eddie spared him a glance as he was leaving, Richie gave him the sincerest smile he could muster, Eddie smiles back. Then they turned the corner. Richie, almost immediately, ducked around, casually leaning against the wall - the others followed. They looked like any other teens just waiting for their ride home.

“Oh, Eddie bear!” Richie heard the terribly squeaky voice that belonged to Eddie’s mom. She was a loud talker, at least they wouldn’t have to strain to hear their conversation. “Oh, and who’s this?” Eddie and Bill stood not a few feet from her, her large smile dropped at the sight of Bill. 

“Hey, mom - this is Bill. You remember Bill, right? My friend?” There’s a pleasing in his voice, but he’s turned away from Richie, so he can’t see his face. 

“It’s good to m-meet you, ma’am.” Bill says, sticking out his hand at the larger woman. Eddie’s mom looks at the hand for an awkward amount of time, considering - her nose upturned in the air. For a moment, Richie thought she would just leave Bill’s hand hanging, but she eventually reached out a large hand and gingerly grabbed the smallest portion of his hand as he possibly could. 

“It’s good to finally meet you, Bill.” She couldn’t sound more unenthused if she tried. What did Hades, King of the Underworld, ever see in this woman?

“So! Mom, Bill and I have this assignment due on Monday, and we were really hoping you’d let me stay the weekend so we can-“

“Excuse me?” She cuts in, crossing her arms. 

“Well, we just need to make sure it’s absolutely perfect.” Eddie was talking a mile a minute, which Richie was pretty sure meant he was _ really _nervous. 

“Eddie bear - I can’t just leave you for the weekend, you know we can’t afford that.” And bullshit. Hades was the God of wealth, Richie didn’t know the guy personally, but he was pretty sure he’d set up some sort of trust fund for his kid. Plus, it costs like seventy thousand a year to even go here, the weekend cost was nothing. 

“We already cleared it with the teachers, ma’am. See?” They had prepared a fake document yesterday, just in case she needed the proof, thank Zeus they did. 

She all but snatched the piece of paper away from Bill, holding it close to her bespectacled eyes. Richie could see her face turn a nasty shade of scarlet from where he was. 

“Eddie, baby, why don’t you want to go home for the weekend?” She was pleading now, crumpling up the paper in her hand. “We hardly get to see each other at all -“ she paused. Looking down at Eddie. “Eddie, where is your ring?”

Oh shit. They didn’t think that part through. They had all completely forgotten that he lost his ring on Monday, it’s had felt like a lifetime since then.

“Oh, it’s in my backpack mom, it’s no big deal.” His voice was an octave higher, he shared a look with Bev, and then Stan and Ben. 

“Eddie you know that that ring is important. I told you a million times that you need to keep it on at all times, didn’t I?” She leaned closer to him.

“_ What do we do?” _Richie whispers to Bev,

“_ I don’t know!” _She whispers back. 

“Put it on, please.” She wasn’t requesting, she was ordering him to. 

“Ms. Kaspbrak-“ Bill tries to chime in. She doesn’t even look at him.

“Put the ring on now, Eddie.”

“Mom, it’s just in my backpack-“ Eddie says back, but it was clear that she had enough.

“Edward-“ she reaches out a large hand, wrapping it around Eddie’s upper arm - his still injured, upper arm. He inhales sharply, flinching away. And the look of straight panic on Eddie’s moms face was something else. It was like someone told her that Eddie had cancer, with only an hour left to live. “Eddie! What happened!” There was little Eddie could do to stop his mom from rolling up his sleeve. She let out a painful gasp mixed with a sob. “Eddie! What - what _ happened _?

“Mom, I’m fine! Please, just-“ Eddie tried to step back, but his mom had a vice grip on him. 

“‘Fine’? How are you ‘fine’! What happened to the ring, Eddie? You know what happens when you don’t wear it!” She practically shouts.

“Mom, stop! Stop, okay? I know. I know _ everything _.” Eddie says, wrenching himself free from her grasp. Richie grins, proud of him. 

“What are you talking about?” She asks. 

“I know _ what I am, _ mom. You can stop pretending, now.” Eddie sounded calm, now. His moms jaw slackens as she processes what he’s saying, but then her lips purse into a sneer. 

“You don’t know anything, Eddie. Now get in the car, we’re going home.” Richie had had enough, at this point. He pushes off the wall, ignoring Bev’s hand, which tries to pull him back. 

“He knows! He knows all about the ring you gave him and how it was suppressing his powers, keeping him from knowing who he truly was.” Richie says, stopping besides Eddie, who looks up at him. He looks relieved, Richie gives him a smile and a wink, before looking looking back at his mom, who looks _ pissed _. 

“You two have been poisoning his mind, haven’t you?” Richie rolls his eyes and he can see Bill roll his, too. 

“Please - we helped him discover who he really was! You put him in danger, a halfblood that doesn’t know he’s a halfblood attracts way more attention than one that does!”

She points a meaty finger at him, “do _ not _use that filthy word around me!” 

“Mom-“

“Quiet!” She snaps, 

“You don’t understand what’s going on, you n-need to let him stay with us s-so he’ll be safe-“ Bill argues.

“‘_ Safe’ _? The only place he’s safe, is with me. And this?” She gestures angrily at the wound on his arm, “is proof!” She looked back at Eddie, grabbing his other arm. “We’re going now, fat chance we’re ever coming back.” She spits out, pulling Eddie with her towards their car. 

“_ Eddie _ !” Both Richie and Bill yell out, Eddie turns his head - he looks so helpless, so small as he’s being dragged away. Richie felt so _ frustrated _ \- he never thought that everything would go _ this wrong _ with their plan! But they should’ve realized, the biggest clue was that stupid fucking ring. If she would put him under that much risk, just to make sure he was never taken away from her, then of course she wouldn’t let him stay the weekend. 

Richie took a step forward as Eddie was pushed into the card, his hand twitching towards his sword that was hung around his neck, but an arm stopped him. He looked over, making eye contact with Bill. He shook his head ‘no’. Richie glared, tugging his arm away. “What are we supposed to do then, huh?”

“Not when people are looking, Richie.” Bill says, gesturing with his head to the audience of people that have gathered to watch. 

Richie grunted, acknowledging that, okay - maybe Bill had a point _ this _time. They couldn’t do anything but watch as Eddie’s mom put the car into gear and slammed on the gas, speeding away with a loud screech. Eddie pointedly did not look at them as he was whisked away, huddled in the corner of the passenger seat, staring down. 

“What do we do now?” Ben asks, him, Stan and Bev joining them. 

“Now it’s time for plan B.” Richie says, determined. 

“Not to be the Debbie Downer, but how are we going to after them?” Ben asks, “Rich, you’re the only one that can fly.” 

“Then I’ll go after him.” Richie says. 

“That’s not a good idea.” Beverly says, and fuck - Richie knows she’s right, of course she is. But what can they do? 

“I can hot wire a car?” Richie suggests. There’s a moment of silence between the five of them, like they’re waiting for the punchline to drop.

“You’re not joking.” Bill says, but he has a ghost of a smile on his face.

“I can steal anything, my Roman friend - it’s in my genes.” Richie says back. Beverly rolls her eyes. 

“Please tell me you’re not even considering that?” She says, looking at Bill like he’s crazy.

“I mean, n-not really?” He says with a shrug. 

Beverly looks at him incredulously, and then back at Richie. “You are such a bad influence, Tozier.”

“Me? I didn’t even do anything, yet!” Richie says, defending himself because - rude. But honestly, stealing a car wasn’t super high on Richie’s list of ‘bad things’ he’d done. It also felt like they were on a bit of a time crunch. 

Then, from behind them there was a loud HONK HONK! Startling all five of them. Pulling up behind them was a familiar yellow Honda Civic. Richie whistled, “well, I’ll be!” Ben and Bill furrowed their brows, looking at Stan, Bev and Richie, who were all smiling. 

The car came to a stop a couple feet away from them, the passenger window rolling down not a moment later. “Mikey Boy! Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?” Richie said, practically skipping over to the car, leaning into the car to give the other teen a friendly handshake. He was grinning, his smile white and bright. 

“Hey there, Trash Mouth, it’s been a couple of weeks. I heard you guys needed a ride?” Mike said, looking at the group. 

“Mike! I missed you so much,” Bev says, leaning forward into the window, next to Richie. “I thought you were back in Florida with your Grandpa for the school year?” 

Mike shrugs, “my dad came to me in a dream a few nights ago, told me there was a group of halfbloods that needed my help, my Pa wasn’t too stoked about me missing school, but what can he do when the Sun God gives his son a mission?” 

“You’re the son of Apollo?” They hear Ben say from behind them, Richie and Ben part so that Ben could see into the car. 

“That’s right, my name is Mike Hanlon.” He holds out a hand for Ben. 

“Ben Hanscom.” He grins, shaking Mike’s hand. Mike looks at him after a moment, considering. 

“You’re new?” He nods. “You don’t happen to know who your Godly parent is yet, do you?” 

“No, not yet.” Ben says, but he doesn’t say it sadly or wistfully, just like it was a fact. Mike nods,

“You will, soon. I have a good feeling about that.” Mike says. 

“All you Apollo kids, always thinking you can see the future.” Richie says, teasingly. Mike rolls his eyes, but it’s in good nature. “Wait till you hear what Bev saw, that’s going to blow your mind.”

“He’s a halfblood, t-too?” Bill says, and Richie can tell that is more of a rhetorical question, because Mike is obviously a Halfblood. Stan’s head snaps to Bill, a realization in his eyes.

“Mike’s the seventh.” Stan says. 

“Holy shit, you’re right.” Richie looks back at Mike, who looks just a little bit lost. 

“Can you guys maybe not speak in code, please?” Mike says, looking between the five of them. 

“Well, Mike, I think you just might help us save the world.” Richie says. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for waiting for the update, everyone! This week was exhausting, we shot our student film, which was three 13 hour days. Very tiring lmao
> 
> Ta-da! Mike is here, finally! I feel so bad about not including him in the first 5 chapters, but in my defense. I had no idea what that plot was when I wrote the first chapter, and didn't realize he'd be out of the story this long haha but he's back for good this time! 
> 
> Here's my tumblr, I mostly cry about It and other stuff, feel free to talk to me about his fic or whatever! @torveela  
Please leave a comment if you can! It motivates me to write faster ;) Thanks for reading, everyone!
> 
> As a reminder:  
Richie: Hermes  
Stanley: Athena  
Mike: Apollo  
Eddie: Hades  
Bill: Jupiter  
Beverly: Hera  
Ben: ???


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie goes home.

The hour long drive back to New York was long and painful, Eddie was used to his mother's long winded rants - always badgering I’m about something, endless chatter that Eddie would drone out, nodding absentmindedly and saying “uh-huh” whenever there was a pause. 

But there was none of that this time. No, this time was a first. The car was filled with nothing but tense silence. The only sound being the noise of their car along the highway. It was so much worse. He could see his mother's hands clenched so tightly around the steering wheel that her knuckles were turning an awful shade of white. She kept glancing at him, ever few minutes, like she was afraid he was going to disappear in a puff of smoke. God, he wished he could. 

Eddie stayed there, pressed firmly against the passenger door, eyes glued to the familiar scenery they drove past. 

He knew it was all going to go horribly, he just didn’t know it was going to go that badly. The yelling match of his mother versus his best friends? Awful. Especially when he, himself, was too much of a coward to stick up for himself, or for his friends. And now he was all by himself, he was going to be so royally fucked of a monster picked now as a good time to attack him - ‘_ three trials he cannot face alone _’ was a phrase he often found himself repeating. Trials was ambiguous, Eddie knew that, but if the last two were anything to go by, he was in for some trouble. Especially now that he was separated from anyone that could help him.

He felt a sense of panic sink in a little, at that thought. It was written in the prophecy that he would fail, for Christ's sake! What wasn’t there to panic about? 

Eventually, the car came to a stop. Eddie hadn’t realized they arrived at their apartment complex, he was so zoned out. 

They moved around a lot, but they’d been living at this particular complex for a little over two years, now. It was nice, Eddie knew that because it had a doorman and everything. He used to wonder how his mom afforded such nice apartments - in New York, no less (they currently were in Manhattan), as his mother didn’t really work. She filled her days with tidying up the house and watching The Real Housewives of whatever. Now, if he had to guess, maybe Hades was financing all of this. As a “sorry for knocking you up and, you know, being the king of hell and all that.” But he didn’t want to ask her, he doubted that he would get a real response out of her, anyway - and that made him a little angry. 

“You’re not going back to that school, I’ll call them tomorrow to have someone collect your things and send them home.” She says, her voice cracking through the silence like a whip. Eddie turns around, fast, eyes wide and disbelieving. His mother isn’t look at him, she’s staring at some fixed point ahead of them. 

“Mom, you can’t be serious!” She turns to look at him, meeting his eyes. Her’s are a cold, dark brown. Not the kind of brown like Ben’s, warm and sunny - inviting. Eddie always worried that his eyes looked like that, too. 

“You’re not safe there, Eddie.” She’s talking street an even level, now. Calm. But it does nothing to ease Eddie’s own anger, to soothe his boiling temper. 

“Fuck that!” He yells out, on impulse. Her cold brown eyes widen in shock at his choice of words.

“_ Language- _!” 

“No, mom. You’ve been keeping everything from me, my whole life- and I’m sick of - of all of the lies, and the _ bullshit _ -“ He takes a deep breath, not knowing exactly where the sudden bravery is coming from, but he’s riding high on it regardless. Beside him, Sonia looks shocked, mouth opening and closing like a fish. “Say my dads name.” 

Her mouth shut with a loud _ click _, she looks away, brows furrowed, cheeks red from what Eddie assumes is anger. “I’ve told you a thousand times, Eddie, I don’t like talking about your father-“

“I’m not asking you to talk about him! I’m _ telling _ you to say his _ name _ !” Eddie _ needed _ this. He needed his mother to admit to something - that he wasn’t cursed, that he was a demigod, that his father was the King of the Underworld - _ all of it _. But a start was her saying his name, acknowledging who he was. 

She continued to stare straight, stubbornly, lips pursed shut.

“Say it - _ please _ .” Eddie ignores the broken sob that comes out, unrestrained. Because why wouldn’t she admit it? Admit to _ anything _? Eddie’s entire life, up until a week ago had felt like some huge lie. A scam, for reasons that he couldn’t think of. 

The harsh silence fills the car again, Eddie’s ears were ringing, probably because of the adrenaline rushing through his veins, it was a feeling he was getting used to.

A minute or so long passes before his mother opens her mouth again, “Eddie,” he holds his breath, waiting. She’s speaking evenly, her voice betraying nothing as she stares ahead of her. “You don’t need to worry about your ring anymore, I have a spare-“ 

Eddie is so angry that he wants to rip his own hair out. “I can’t fucking believe you.” But the thing was, he did. Somewhere inside of him he always knew what she was doing. That she was lying to him, even as a kid. All of those excuses as to why they had to switch schools so often (“_ you’re cursed Eddie, you have to wear your ring or bad things will happen _ .”) ( _ “you don’t want anyone else to get hurt because of you, do you, dear? That’s why we have to move _.”) 

Eddie grips the door handle, flinging it open so hard he hears a loud _ crack _ but he couldn’t care less right then. 

“_Eddie _ -! Where are you going?” He hears a frantic yell behind him, but he doesn’t care. Not anymore, no - he’d walk back to school, if that’s what it took to get away from his lying, delusional mother. “Get back here, now!” 

Eddie’s legs start to move faster, and suddenly he’s running. He doesn’t know where he wants to go, just that he wants to get out of there _ fast _, fast enough where she wouldn’t be able to follow in her car, like he knew she would. So he sprints at a shadow casted by one of the many buildings around them, and runs straight through it. He hears a desperate “Eddie!” Before all light vanishes, and he’s in darkness. 

He thought it would be scarier than it really was. In fact, the darkness was comforting. Kind of like a safety blanket. 

He walked for a few minutes, looking through those one way mirrors that he described to Richie only a few days earlier. 

_ Richie. _ He wanted to travel all the way there. Back to the boarding school, to be with his friends and fellow halfbloods. He’d finally found some place he’d really belonged, but his mother had to go and put her claws around it and rip it to shreds. Regardless, the boarding school was way too far. He had no idea how to travel that far, and he was already exhausted from just the general stress of his life that he didn’t feel up to experimenting, either. 

So he picked one of the many piers in New York.

He steps out of the shadow and is greeted by the smell of a salty sea. He can hear the seagulls in the distance, and although it was getting a little bit colder, it being almost October, there were still plenty of locals and tourists alike, enjoying the sea. 

He felt calmer, knowing he was away from his mother. But he still was buzzing with energy, restless. So he started walking, up along the side. Lost in his thoughts and enjoying the people watching. It was nice. Like he wasn’t the target of some crazy, murderous monster gang or whatever the fuck was trying to kill him. He felt almost normal (despite having not arrived by train or Uber, but my traveling through a network of shadows) but he’d take what he could get.

Eventually he spotted a ferry, not too far away. Standing in front of the entrance was a dapper looking man, maybe in his 40’s. He was handsome, with a sharp jawline and dark skin. He wore a perfectly tailored black suit - Eddie would’ve thought him a lawyer, if not for the eccentric tie he wore - a sharp fuchsia and yellow pattern that somehow, he made work. He had white hair, shaved and clean - and he was wearing a pair of sunglasses. 

Eddie stopped walking, probably fifteen or so feet from the man and the ferry. The man grinned, it was sharp and slick, but not intimidating. It was like he knew he looked good, so he was just excited to show himself off. “Looking to ride?” He asks with a thick British accent, more cockney or East London than anything.

It took Eddie a moment to realize that that the man was talking to him, “oh - um, sorry. I don’t have any money.” He remembered he left his backpack in his mother's car, so he didn’t have anything with him, not his phone or his wallet. That was a bummer.

The man gave him a quick nod, towards Eddie’s pockets. “Check again.” 

Eddie furrowed his brow, but did as he was told. He patted his pockets, stopping when he felt something heavy and round in the front right pocket. He voiced his surprise, and he could hear the man's amused chuckle as Eddie pulled out a large, golden coin. Which - okay. He was almost 100% sure that he did not have that before, but he wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Eddie examined it, quickly - it was heavy, and ornate. On one side was the Empire State building, the other side was - oh. Of course, on the other side was the symbol of Hades, the same one that floated above his head not three days ago. And written in Greek letters what the word ‘drachma’. God of Wealth, check. He needed money and then he had it. That was pretty cool. 

The man held out a hand, still smiling his cool, toothy smile. And Eddie tossed to coin to him, he caught it with a flourish, pocketing the gold coin. He stepped out of the entrance way, bending forward slightly, he extended an arm, waving it in front of him in one smooth motion. “All aboard.” He said in his British accent.

Eddie nodded, and without a second thought he walked past the man, boarding the ferry. He almost immediately regretted it. It was dimly lit inside, and had a strange odor. Almost all of the seats were full, except for a single one, near the front. The benches were smallish, only fitting two to a row comfortably, and the seat nearest the window was already taken, so Eddie sat on the aisle seat, as far away from the other person as he could be. Stranger danger, and all that. The lights were so dim, that he couldn’t see the other person, anyways. 

After a moment, the man sat down at the head of the ferry, he turned around in his seat, and even though it was a full ship, Eddie couldn’t help but feel like if the man wasn’t wearing glasses then he would see him staring straight at him. “Let’s get this show on the road.” He turned back around, and the ferry whirred to life, shaking a little. Eddie was really regretting his decision, now. 

They started to move, smoother than he expected it to be. It was a few minutes later that Eddie realized he had no idea where the ferry was actually going, he didn’t think to ask the man earlier, and it was far too late now - he’d feel like the biggest asshole, going up to the captain while he was steering only to ask him where they were going. 

The ferry was very quiet, the only sound he could hear was the sound of the motor, whirring loudly as they traversed what Eddie was assuming was the Hudson river. He could also hear something else. A kind of… chattering noise. It was quiet, in comparison to the ferry’s loud motor, but it was there. 

After a few more minutes of relative silence (why was everyone so quiet if the boat was practically full of people?), he decided to lean over to his seatmate and ask them where they were going. “Excuse me?” He whispered, leaning in the tiniest bit. The stranger that sat next to him made no movement or other signs that they had heard him. It was too late to pretend like he never said anything, so he raised his voice. “Excuse me? I, um, was just wondering if you knew where we were headed?” 

For the first time Eddie was looking at the stranger head on, and he noticed something. They were quivering, slightly. Shaking. And not only that, Eddie realized that he could see through them, right to the window - which looked out onto bleak, dark waters. Waters he knew was not the Hudson river. Before he could freak out, the stranger seemed to have heard him this time. It turned slowly towards him, and Eddie could hear his heart pounding in his ears, but he was too curious to look away. When it turned to him, completely Eddie felt his heart stop. 

It was a skeleton, dressed in clothing. It’s empty eye sockets dark and desolate. Eddie realized that the chattering he heard earlier was coming from its teeth and jaw, which clattered and shook. 

And threw himself up from the bench with a “what the fuck!” Practically stumbling into the aisle. 

Behind him someone spoke in a breathy whisper, “oh lucky us, the Prince of Darkness has come to see us to the other side, how thoughtful.” It spoke like wind whistling through trees, a hollow sound. Eddie turned around, only to see that, indeed, everyone else on the ferry was in various states of decomposing. The one who spoke, he guessed, was holding its own head, cradled in its arms, smiling at him - while it’s neck was a gross, bloody mess (Eddie felt like he was going to be sick). 

Bile rose in his throat, he put a hand over his mouth, trying to hold it back. All the dead people, or whatever they were, were watching him with various interests. Eddie backed down the aisle towards the man who drove the ferry. “You gotta help me-” He starts, ripping his eyes from the hoard of dead people, to the man - “oh my fucking God!” Eddie yelled, because the man - once dapper and handsome, had begun to decompose. His cheeks were gaunt, and his skin had lost color. He looked more like a skeleton, now - it was fucking terrifying. 

“Slow your roll, ‘_ Prince o’ Darkness _’!” He quoted the zombie from the back with a laugh, throwing his head back and wiping an invisible tear from under his sunglasses. “Seriously, the dead these days will do anythin’ to suck up to the Boss Man - all tryin’ to get to Elysium. Fat chance at that!” He laughed again, and Eddie felt like he was missing the joke. 

“Please - _ please _ let me off.” Eddie said desperately, eyes shifting from the skeleton-ish man to the windows that looked outside. 

He could see more clearly, now that the dead person was out of his way. The waters were truly black, as black as the night sky, in which they were under. The water was calm, the ferry not even making a ripple, despite the fairly fast speed they traveled. A heavy mist settled around them, so Eddie couldn’t make out too much of what was around them. In the distance, along the shoreline of the large river they traversed was a huge stone wall. So large that Eddie couldn’t see the top. It was barely five o’clock when Eddie was at the pier, the sun was still high over head. Which meant that he had spent a lot more time on this death ferry than he originally realized - or. 

Or he was currently in the Underworld, on the ferry. The ferry which all the dead took to reach the afterlife. 

He looked over at the man, finally understanding. “You… you’re Charon, the ferryman of the Underworld.” 

“Finally figured it out, ‘aye?” Charon reached up and slide his sunglasses down what was left of his nose. His eyes were a swirling black of nothing - he winked. “Didn’t think boss man’s own son would be so slow on the uptake.” He said with a chuckle. Eddie rolled his eyes, really - how was he supposed to know that he boarded the fucking boat of death! His face must have shown it all - “oh, relax! We’re almost there.” Charon says as the boat sputters to a stop not moments later. 

“We’re… we’re in the Underworld?” Eddie asked nervously, his eyes scanning the horizon. The enormous wall had a gate - which was open. Eddie could see hundreds, if not thousands of transparent beings walking through, slowly. Eddie whipped back around to Charon, “you have to bring me back. Seriously, I can’t stay here - I need to go back-”

“No can do, my _ Prince _. This is a one way trip kind o’ deal. ‘Fraid this is your stop.” He didn’t sound remorseful in the slightest as he pulled a lever, opening the doors to the ferry. In the back, all the dead started rising, slowly meandering to their feet and walking towards where Eddie stood. 

“_ Ack _!” Eddie cried, ungracefully. He really, really did not want to touch any of the ghosts - or whatever the fuck they were, but there was no possible way around them, so he jumped out of the boat through the now open door, stumbling his way to the side as the ghosts walked (or floated) past him. A few gave him acknowledging nods, others didn’t know he was there. 

“See ya around, kid.” Charon said, giving Eddie a two finger salute, shutting the doors. 

“Wait - you can’t leave me here!” Eddie ran forward, but it was too late. Charon was already pulling away. The only way to catch him would be stepping into the water - which you couldn’t pay Eddie to do. He was desperate and a little scared, but he wasn’t crazy. He was pretty sure that was the River Styx - and if Hercules taught him anything, it taught him that it was filled with dead people. Eddie wasn’t willing to risk it. “Fuck you!” He yells, instead, glaring angrily at the boat, which was soon swallowed by the heavy mist. 

After a moment, he sullenly turns around with a deep sigh, trying not to think about the ‘one way ride’ that Charon mentioned moments earlier. 

He heard it before he saw it, somehow. The sound of heavy, ground shaking footsteps pounded towards him, he was almost thrown from his feet, having to steady himself. Eddie turns to where he thinks the terrifying sound is coming from - only to be met with a terrifying sight. A couple dozen yards away from his was the biggest dog he’s ever seen in his life. Like, Clifford the big red dog kind of big. Except that this dog wasn’t red, instead it was almost completely black, with brown on it’s (his?) stomach. He was a rottweiler, Eddie figured - despite never touching a dog in his life (“_ Oh, Eddie dear, those things are always so dirty and gross - don’t touch them! _”). And the craziest thing? It had three, large, terrifying heads. And it was running right at him.

“Oh my God…” Eddie whispered. If he was smart, he would’ve shadow traveled away from there (can you even do that sort of thing in the Underworld? Eddie had no clue), there was no chance in Hell (pun intended) that he could outrun the giant thing - so Eddie did the next best thing; he curled up in a ball and shut his eyes tight waiting for the monster to eat him. “Fuck, fuck, fuck…” Seconds later the pounding stopped and Eddie could feel it looming over him, but he didn’t dare open an eye to check - lest he came face to face with a mouthful of sharp teeth. If he was going to die, he’d rather do it not staring death in the face, thank you very much. 

Though the bite never comes. Instead, he feels a gust of air and a loud sniffing sound (several loud sniffing sounds) before something wet and warm practically drenches his side. “Ugh!” Eddie tried not to gag at the disgusting smell of dog breath. He opens his eyes and looks down at his body, lip curled in disgust. He was totally wet. But it wasn’t water. He looks up and is met with three, huge grinning faces, the middle one has its tongue hanging out. “Did you just fucking _ lick _me?” 

“_Ruff_!” The middle one barks, and the noise is almost deafening - Eddie has to cover his ears. He winces in pain. 

“Not cool, um - dog. Or, or is it dogs?” Eddie asks, he hears a high pitched whine before the one on the left moves closer. “Oh, no, no, no!” Eddie puts his hands up, back away because he’d rather be eaten than licked again, frankly. 

“Cerberus, sit!” 

Cerberus does as commanded, albeit not very happily. His ears turn down on the left head, but the other two seem content, still (Eddie can see its single tail wagging like a large whip behind it). 

Eddie looks over, ready to thank whoever saved him from getting slobbered on - and he almost drops his jaw. Standing not too far from him is probably the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. She wasn’t tall, but probably had a few inches on Eddie. Her hair was long and wavy, partially held up in a pretty half-do, various flowers decorated her hair. And a golden crown sat on the top of her head - glittering and ornate. Her skin was dewy and glowing, she smiled at him lightly, as if she were welcoming an old friend. She wore a black Grecian dress, which flowed long behind her, with several pieces of expensive looking gold jewelry.

“Eddie, it’s so good to meet you.” She said, her voice light and airy. 

Eddie had a feeling about how he looked right then, half of his hair was sticking up because of Cerberus’ slobber - he hadn’t slept well in about two weeks (not to mention all of the recent stress with his mother and somehow ending up in the Underworld) and he was staring at her with wide eyes, mouth opening and closing like a fish. “U-um.” Like a light bulb going off in his head, he suddenly realized who she was. “You - you, you’re Persephone.” He stammered out, his face heating up - because, duh. She knows who she is. 

She giggled at him (_ giggled _!), covering her mouth politely. “Forgive me for not introducing myself. I forget that we haven’t properly met, yet.” 

“Oh, well - should I bow? Or something? You’re the _ Queen _, right?” God, he wanted to hit himself for how awkward the conversation was but he just couldn’t help it.

“Oh, no! No, please - this is fine, I apologize for Cerberus, by the way - I think he was just very excited to meet you. You see, it’s been a long time since once of Hades’ children has come to the Underworld. He gets very lonely and bored, guarding the gates all day and night.” She explains, Eddie looks over to Cerberus, who tilts all three of his heads in tandem and - wow. Very cute, Eddie suddenly feels like he missed out on a lot of good dogs since his mother forbade him from going near them. 

“It’s fine, really.” It didn’t feel right for not only a Goddess, but the Queen of the Underworld to be apologizing to him for her overzealous puppy. 

“Alright, well - if you’d please follow me this way.” She extended her arm in a smooth motion in front of her, and a portal opened. She stepped through, disappearing from the misty shores of the River Styx. 

Eddie goes to step through himself, but looks towards Cerberus one last time. He lets out another high pitched whine, his heads drooping, ears pressed down. “I’ll see you around?” It was like Eddie said the magic words, all three heads shot up - its tail wagging so violently that Eddie was slightly concerned that he would whip up a small tornado. “Okay, bye.” And Eddie jumped through the portal (closing his eyes while doing it - he was glad Richie wasn’t there to see that, he definitely would’ve made fun of him). 

When he opened them, he gasped. He was in the most beautiful garden he had ever seen - it honestly made the one at school look like a second graders project in comparison. There was no sunlight, even in this part of the Underworld, but the plants and flowers thrived nonetheless. There are hundreds and hundreds of different types of flowers of all different colors and sizes. Interestingly, but not surprisingly - there was quite a lot of precious jewels. He stood on a path of stone encrusted with rubies - and not too far away was a tree growing crystals. Hades really never wasted an opportunity to show off just how wealthy he was. “Wow.” He says, eyes scanning the garden. 

“Thank you.” Persephone says with another giggle. She’s sat under an ornate, white gazebo - sitting on a chair, table in front of her. She gestures to the seat across from her, “Please have a seat.” He does as he’s told, sitting down gingerly in the chair across from her. “First, let’s do something about those ruined clothes of yours.” She looked at him and in down, eyes narrowed as she analyzed him. Eddie crosses his arms over his chest, suddenly even more self conscious. “Aha!” 

She snaps her fingers, and Eddie suddenly felt a hundred times more clean. He looks down at himself, curious to see what she had done and he almost balked - he was wearing an incredibly expensive looking black blazer, over what he thought was a black turtleneck, and black skinny jeans completed the look. It was a far cry from his normal light colored polo shirt and gym shorts chic he usually wore. 

“Aw, you look just like your father!” Persephone said with a hand over her heart, smiling. Eddie highly doubted it - but he’s never actually seen the guy, so. 

“Um. Thank you.” She waves him off before settling back into her seat.

“I appreciate you coming on such short notice.” Eddie looks at her, eyebrow raised.

“You arranged the ferry?” 

“Yes, I did. It’s the most common way to the Underworld, after all.” She says. The cogs in Eddie’s brain started turning.

“I… I don’t mean any offense, but why did you want me to come here? I mean, I’m 17. From the little I know about all this demigod shit - sorry,” He says, catching himself on the curse word. She doesn’t bat an eye, just nodded for him to continue. “_Stuff_. Is that the Gods claim their kids when they’re pretty young - Richie told me that he was claimed when he was eight!” Eddie didn’t mean to rant, he didn’t mean to bring up any of that, but it was always in the back of his mind. A sort of fear, or anxiety that the reason why he wasn’t claimed by Hades when he was younger, was because Hades didn’t think he was good enough. 

Persephone hummed in thought for a moment, before smiling. “Richie is a son of Hermes, isn’t he? I saw him help you during your first trial - Hermes hasn’t stopped talking about him over the Iris-Messages.” She rolls her eyes eyes with a smile. “He seems like a sweet kid.” 

“Sweet isn’t a word I’d use to describe him.” Eddie mutters to himself. Irritating? Yes. Obnoxious? Definitely. Sweet? No way.

“Your situation is… different from your friends.” She says, and her smile turns a bit sad. “Your mother - she hid you from your father, before you were born. He didn’t know you existed up until earlier this week.” 

“The ring…” Eddie mutters, suddenly the anger he felt earlier towards his mother was back. She hid him from his father, “Why?” 

Persephone shrugs, interlacing her fingers together. “I don’t know much about your mother, honestly. Hades never talks about her.” For the first time since he met the Goddess, he thought she sounded rather cold. A little uncaring. “That would be a better question for her.” 

Eddie shakes his head, chuckling dryly. “She’d never tell me. She’s still trying to convince me that I’m _ ‘normal’ _ .” He says, practically spitting the word out. He can tell that Persephone is looking at him with pity - that she feels sorry for him. “Please don’t take this the wrong way, Miss. But… but why are you being so nice to me?” Persephone blinks, Eddie rushes to explain himself. “It’s just - you’re Hades’ wife. And he and my mom - I just. Shouldn’t you _ hate _ me?” Eddie can’t bring himself to look her in the eye, so he settles on looking at his fingernails instead. He nearly jumps when she places a delicate hand over his. 

“Eddie… I know what it’s like to have a mother like yours.” She says with such sincerity that Eddie looks up, eyes wide. She’s looking at him sadly - but Eddie doesn’t think that its pity. More like a melancholy understanding. 

“You do?” Eddie asks, because it’s a little unbelievable that anyone else could have a mother as bad as his own. 

Persephone nods, “I do. She means well but - she’s controlling. Sometimes suffocating, even. Like she is so afraid to lose me that she’s okay with keeping me in a cage.” 

“Oh.” It comes out like a wheeze, because it was almost exactly like his own life. 

Persephone smiles, squeezing his hands. “So maybe that’s why I’m being so nice to you. I think we have a lot in common. And… well, at the risk of sounding awful - I know Hades loves me more than he ever loved your mother.” She shrugs, “I can’t blame the child for the actions of his parents, can I?” Eddie didn’t know what to say to that, he supposes he should be grateful - she seemed way more nice than his own mother, so he just nods. “And how can I not be nice to someone with a face like yours?” She giggles, pulling a hand away and pinching at his cheeks. 

“Ahaha, yeah I’m adorable.” Eddie says dryly, trying not to pull away from the all powerful Goddess. 

“Alright! Now, I have something for you.” 

Eddie perked up, “You have something for me?” 

She snaps her fingers and a in a flowery cloud appeared a small, red leather pouch. She nods towards Eddie, gesturing for him to pick it up. He tentatively reached forward, grabbing it. He undoes the strings that kept it bound, peeking inside. 

Inside was a handful of what looked like pomegranate seeds. He looks up, questioningly and Persephone smiles, answering his unasked question. “Those are straight from my garden.” She holds her hand out, pointing at an orchard not far from them. “One seed will bring you straight back here. Think of it like a fall back plan, if you’re ever in danger.” 

“Wow, thank you.” He says - a little taken aback. He thought she was sweet, but he didn’t think she would literally give him a bag of seeds that would bring him right to her precious garden. He felt… touched. 

“Think nothing of it. Now, I believe your father wanted a word with you as well.” She stood up, sweeping her long black dress out in a flourish. 

“Come again?” Eddie practically sputtered, caught off guard. “_Why _?” 

Persephone scoffed good naturedly, “Because he wants to meet you, silly. Let’s get going, he is a busy man after all!” With another wave of her arms a portal was opened, Persephone skipping through. 

“Oh, the God of Death wants to meet me? Sure, no big deal! Why worry at all?” Eddie mutters to himself sarcastically, standing up from his seat, almost dragging his feet as he walked to the portal. He sighs, his heart pounding in his ears. He reminds himself of what Persephone told him earlier, that he didn’t know Eddie was his, not that he didn’t want him. 

He sighs, stepping through. 

He’s greeted with almost nothing but ebony stone, shining and sparkling with that little light there was. The first thing he noticed was the two huge thrones at the top of the overly large room. The first was larger by far was onyx in color, covered in a monotony of skulls of all shapes and sizes. The next was daintier and gold, there was - from what Eddie could see - ornate floral engraving on the sides and leading up to the arm rests. 

There sat Persephone, who smiled at him encouragingly, and in the skull covered throne was Hades. His father. He gulped, his mouth suddenly dry. 

Hades stood from his throne, walking down the many steps, so slow it was agonizing. 

Eddie realized that he looked nothing like Hades. He had received most of his looks from his mother. Where Hades had long, black hair - Eddie’s was short and brown. Where Hades was tall, with sallow and white skin - Eddie was short and tan, too many freckles despite the fact that his mother kept him from the sun, slathering him with sunscreen. He wore a similar outfit to his wife’s, he was dressed in a long, black flowing robe. However, where Persephone’s has a beautiful elegance to it, his was rather intimidating, as silver thread lined the bottom, and Eddie was sure that those were souls sewed into his robe. He wasn’t sure how he knew - he didn’t even know what a soul _looked_ like. But, maybe he had a sixth sense about stuff like that - you know, dead stuff.

Before he knew it, Hades stood not more than a few feet from him. His dark gaze intimidating. “Eddie…” Eddie can’t help but tense up, staring at the ground, waiting for whatever he’s going to say. A heavy hand lands on his shoulder, startling him. He looks up, meeting black eyes for the first time. “I’m happy to finally meet you, son.” Eddie feels like he might cry, a little. 

“You, too, D-dad.” His voice cracks a little, but Eddie is only a little embarrassed. There’s the smallest ghost of a smile on his father’s face - Eddie smiles back. 

Persephone makes her way down the stairs eagerly, far more faster than her husband did. She stops next to him, elbowing him gently. He glances over to her - and it’s like he’s younger, when he’s looking at her. His edges soften, he’s less stern and scary. Eddie thinks that that is what true love looks like. He can’t help but wonder if someone would ever look at him the way that Hades looks at his Step-Mother. 

“I’m… sorry for taking so long, I trust my wife has filled you in?” Ah, he was referring to the whole ‘didn’t know you were a thing’ thing. 

“Yeah, she did.” Eddie replies Hades nods - Eddie thinks he looks remorseful. “Can you-” Eddie pauses, biting his lip. He can’t forget that he’s talking to Hades, here. Father or not. But his father doesn’t look put off by Eddie’s words, in fact he seems like he’s welcoming it, so Eddie continues. “My mom, she hid me from you - _ why _?”

Hades considers for a moment, his dark eyes contemplating. “Your mother… she was always a delicate woman.” He says, his voice was slick - like oil. A deep timber. Eddie furrowed his brows, delicate wasn’t something he thought his mom was. Hades sensed his questioning, “She was like a dandelion, one strong breeze and she would blow away.” He sighs, it’s one of remorse. He turns away from Eddie, clasping his hands behind his back and starts pacing. “I fear I ruined her - she was frail, scared of my world.” He stops, looking at Eddie. “Of _ your _world.”

“What do you mean?” Eddie asks, trying to wrap his head around everything. 

“We met when she was twenty three. She was young, and beau-” He coughs into his palm, pointedly looking away from Persephone who looked like she was trying her best to hold her tongue, for Eddie’s sake. “_ Ahem _ \- she was young. I couldn’t be with her often, and when she was carrying you - I lost her.”

Eddie raised a brow, “but, you’re a God. How could you lose us?” He’d been told over and over just how powerful Hades was these past few days, how could someone so powerful just lose his mistress (Eddie balked at that term, but it seemed the most accurate. He was sure Hades had never loved her)?

Then Hades holds his fist up, so that its even level with Eddie. He opens it, revealing a familiar black onyx ring. Eddie looks up at him, shocked. “This fell with the monster you defeated - nicely done, by the way.” Eddie can’t help the flush that creeps up his neck, he shrugs - not entirely trusting his voice at the moment. “We examined it closely and have come to the conclusion that this was made to hide you, specifically - Eddie. And not just from me, but from anyone. Gods, monsters, satyrs - the like. I’m still trying to figure out who made it, but it seems like they forgot to keep you hidden from your fellow halfbloods.” His mind flashes to Richie, who was so persistent with him, despite Eddie’s coarseness. He thinks of Bill, who protected him from whatever the hell the Principal was. It was a lot to take in.

“Why?” Eddie feels like he’s asked that question a lot lately. “Why _ me _?”

“Because you are my son.” Hades says, simply. Like that was reason enough. 

“Father,” God, it felt weird saying that out loud. “That can’t be it-“

“You have only scratched the surface of your true potential, son. You cannot imagine the power you wield. The foes you will best.” He says it with such confidence that Eddie’s arms break out in goosebumps, Hades was right - he truly could not imagine himself to be that strong. “You are destined for greatness, this I know.”

“And _ how _ do you know that?” Eddie asks, hating how pathetic he sounded. 

Hades looks at him - really looks at him. His dark eyes swirling. “There is a storm coming. One that only a few will be able to stop.”

“_ ‘Earth’s last storm’ _?” He asks, echoing the prophecy that had been on repeat in his head the last week. 

Hades nods, face tightening. “Precisely.”

Eddie sucks in a deep breath, willing himself not to have a panic attack in front of two powerful Gods. “What am I supposed to do?” His voice is a little shaky. “I - I feel like I’m barely keeping my head above water, these last couple of fights. How am I supposed to stop the world from ending?”

“That is not for us to tell you.” Hades says, Eddie purses his lips together, frowning. What’s the use of a God for a parent if they can’t tell you how to save the fucking world?

“_ But _! I’m sure it’ll be helpful if he gave you your other gift!” Persephone cut in, practically bouncing on her toes. “Show him, Hades!” She was grinning, holding onto one of Hades’ large biceps (another thing they didn’t have in common). 

Hades nods, giving her a tired yet decidedly fond smile. “How could I forget?” He waves his free arm, and appearing in black, shadowy smoke was a spear. It was easy to miss, at first - it was almost as dark as the shadows around it. It gleamed dangerously in the low light of the room, it look Eddie’s breath away. 

“This is a spear forged of Stygian iron. It’s a powerful weapon - and I trust you will wield it well.” The spear floated down to Eddie, hovering just in front of him, waiting for him to grasp it. “It’s name is Shadow - or Skiá.”

Shadow wasn’t very creative, as far as names went. But Eddie liked it. The spear was taller than Eddie by far, but not tall enough where Eddie wouldn’t be able to fight with it. It was sharp, and pointed at the tip - with several more inches of jagged iron on the sides. There was a dark grey cloth wrapped around the middle - where Eddie gathered he was supposed to hold it. So he did. In a smooth motion, he reached out and grasped Shadow - and it felt _ right _. Like it was made for him. 

“Do you like it?” Persephone says, grinning eagerly at him. 

Eddie nods, smiling back. “Yeah. Yeah I do, thanks.” He never saw himself as a spear kind of guy - but it worked. He liked it. 

“See - I told you he would.” She says to his father, who smiles back gently. 

“I never doubted you.” It’s almost too sweet for him to watch.

“Oh! Also - you’re going to need a way for you to travel around with it easily. I came up with this, tell me what you think.” She snaps her fingers, and Shadow is gone. Eddie blinks - Richie kept is sword on a necklace, Stan kept his shield as a belt buckle - but Eddie had neither of those. 

Persephone reaches up to her own jeweled ear and points, still smiling at him. Eddie copies her, reaching up to his ear he -_ holy shit _. “What the fuck?” He lets slip out, on accident as he feels the spear like shape that was now an earring. 

“If you don’t like it, I can think of something else-”

“No! No, no it’s fine. I love it, thank you Miss-” Eddie knew better than to slight a gift from a Goddess, remembering back to the whole history lesson they had on the Trojan War. So he was an earring kind of guy, now. That was cool, he could live with that.

“Please, call me Persephone.” She says, cutting him off.

Eddie nods, “thank you, Persephone.” 

“I’m glad you like it - I thought an earring would look super good on you, and I was right!” She’s back to jumping up and down, Hades places a hand gently on her lower back, 

“‘Seph, you’re embarrassing him.” And if Eddie wasn’t embarrassed before, he certainly is now. 

“_ Oh _, he’s fine!” She replies back, waving an arm. 

This whole situation… Hades and Persephone, giving him loving gifts and talking to him like he’s an actual person and not just some, some _ thing _that they can control - it’s warming his heart so quickly that Eddie wants to break down into tears. Because this is what he saw on television when he watched it when his mother made a trip to the grocery store. Two people who loved each other, talking to one another and joking and - it was so different than anything Eddie was used to. He never imagined he’d have a father who believed he would accomplish great things, or a mother who was kind and understanding - who knew what it was like to be locked in a cage too small. He knew they weren’t perfect. Maybe Hades was too stoic, and Persephone too eager to relate to him but. It was something. Something Eddie never had before.

It was a lot. 

“Eddie?” The scent of flowers fills his nostrils. It wasn’t overwhelming like his mothers perfume, but comforting. A small floral printed cloth is held out in front of him, Eddie takes it gingerly, he sniffs dabbing at his eyes with it. He didn’t even realize he was crying, how embarrassing. “Are you alright?” She asks so softly. If he dared to cry in front of his mother, she’d be all over him - suffocating. 

“S-sorry, long week.” He says instead, smiling at Persephone, who smiles back gently. Hades is behind her, but, well he didn’t expect the God of Death to want to soothe a crying seventeen year old, that he didn’t even know was his until a few days ago. 

“It’s alright, do what you need to.” She says, and Eddie feels grateful, even if he doesn’t cry anymore because even he has standards, even if they were low. He puts the handkerchief into his pocket.

“I should get back, my friends are probably worried.” Eddie says after a moment of making sure his voice was steady. 

Hades and Persephone both nod. “They are very worried.” Persephone says and Eddie barks out a laugh. 

“Remember what I said, son.” Hades says with a curt nod - and it’s comforting, somehow. Eddie nods back. 

“Don’t be a stranger.” Persephone pats his head with a smile, and Eddie can’t help but return it.

Hades waves an arm, and behind him, Eddie can hear the sound of another portal opening. Thank God he didn’t have to ride another ferry. He turns around, ready to step through - but he pauses, turning to look over his shoulder. “Thank you two, for everything.” They both nod - Persephone waves at him and Eddie walks through the portal.

* * *

They all rushed to pack a few essential things - clothes and what not, anything they could carry. Richie had a feeling that they wouldn’t be back to school anytime soon. 

Bill also brought along his kid brother. His _ mortal _kid brother. 

So that was cool. (Sarcasm)

“Wait, Eddie is the son of _ Hades _?” George is his name, and it turns out he can run his mouth. They’re all sitting in Mike’s Honda Civic, on the road. The car was a cool one - however many passengers there were, the car would magically create the space to accommodate them

“Up to like, 15 or something.” Mikes says, 

“That’s it? Less cool now.” Richie replies. 

“Oh - my dad gives me a magical car that never runs out of gas and is practically the Tardis, and your dad gives you a pair of beat up sneakers and nerdy glasses - and _ my car _ isn’t cool?” Mike snaps back. 

“Phew, slow your roll there, Mikey boy! Let me know when you can fly, then we’ll have another conversation.”

Is how it went. 

“That’s what I said.” Bill says, Richie could tell he was a little sick of his brother’s constant questions that were never ending. 

“Huh. I would’ve thought like, Ares or someone.” George says with a shrug. 

Richie laughs out loud, “because of the temper?” Richie asks, turning around to face the kid, who sat in the back row with Bill. 

“Yeah! He gets so _ mad _.” George says with a laugh, and suddenly he liked the kid. 

“That’s what I thought, too - the way his face turns all red and he starts talking a mile a minute-”

“I’m telling him you said that.” Stan replies from the front passenger seat. 

Richie gasps, turning around to face the front seat, despite Stan strictly staring in front of him, “do you want him to send me to Tartarus?” 

“Kind of, yeah.” Stan replies.

“Wait - _ Tartarus is real _?” George asks in disbelief, and Richie can almost hear the groan from Bill as he rubbed a hand over his face. 

The drive is quick, despite Mike refusing to drive faster than five over the speed limit. (“I can literally fly faster than this!”)(“Then get out and do it, I don’t need your inflated ego dragging my car down anyways.”) They had a lot to go over with Mike (and by proximity, George, somehow). 

“So. The seven of us?” Mike asks after a moment, eyes on the road. 

“Yeah. The seven of us.” Beverly repeats. 

“Well, let’s get Eddie, then.” 

Eddie hasn’t picked up his phone or replied to any of the dozens of texts they’d sent him since his mom carted him away. They had all turned on the “find my iPhone” feature and shared it with each other after the whole disappearing for half a day fiasco, so they could find each other in case they were separated - he was glad Ben thought of it, because it was really coming in handy right then. 

They drove to the place where Eddie’s phone stayed, assuming that that was his place. Turns out he lived in a fancy, upscale apartment in upper Manhattan. He always had a feeling Eddie would’ve been like Blair, from Gossip Girl. 

“What’s his apartment number?” Beverly asks, looking at Bill, who shrugs helplessly.

“I have no idea.” 

They all looked at each other, everyone trying to come up with a plan on how to actually _ find _Eddie - door to door was out of the question. The apartment complex was huge and Richie was sure that a place like that would have some sort of doorman or security. 

“Maybe if we ask nicely they’ll just tell us?” Mike suggests, and really. Short of Richie flying to every window, they didn’t exactly have a better plan.

They parked the car on the street across from the apartments, Bill electing himself and his brother to stay in the car - they didn’t need so many of them, Sonia wouldn’t like the crowd.. The lobby was huge - kind of resembling a fancy hotel, what with the white marble and silver accents. It was all very… not Eddie. 

“May I ‘elp you?” Came a voice, the accent was thick and French, with a snooty tone to it. The man stood behind a counter, bespectacled and old, wearing a black, fitted uniform with a hat that reminded Richie of a chauffeur or maybe even a sailor. 

“Let me handle this.” Ben whispers to the group, cutting off Richie has he opened his mouth to speak. “_ Bonjour Monsieur comment allez vous _?” There wasn’t a single hesitation or mispronunciation (not that Richie would’ve been able to tell), he spoke in one fluid motion. The doorman perked you with interest, staring down at Ben with a hint of surprise. 

“_ Je vais bien. que faites-vous et vos amis ici? Je ne t'ai pas vu avant.” _ The man replies back.

“_ Nous recherchons notre ami _ Eddie Kaspbrak _ . Il a oublié de nous dire son numéro de chambre et il ne répond pas à son téléphone. _” Ben replies, not missing a beat.

“Holy shit.” Richie whispers, impressed. Bev sends him a light glare,

“_ Shhh _.” Richie rolls his eyes, like she understood what he was saying anyways. 

“Hmmm.” The doorman eyed Ben for a moment, before his eyes scanned over Richie and the others. “_ Je ne suis pas autorisé à donner les numéros d'appartement de nos invités. _” 

Richie can see Ben purse his lips, discontented. Richie really wished he’d taken up the Aphrodite kids on their offer to teach him French (not that Richie thought the offer was _ real _, but still. English was hard enough for him). 

Then Ben smiles at the man, and it’s quite charming. Ben was on the edge of losing all of his baby fat, he was y’all, nearly the same height as Stan, who was only a few inches shorter than Richie himself. Richie could tell he was thinning out, too - he did mention he was on the track team, once or twice (though Richie was sure that after this weekend he wouldn’t be). So yeah. Ben could be pretty charming, if he wanted to. And right then, Richie could tell he was leaning all the way into it. 

“_ S'il vous plait, Monsieur? _ Eddie _ est notre meilleur ami, nous ne causerons aucun problème. _” He says, smiling. And, like a miracle, the man smiled back with a nod. Like he didn’t even need to think about it anymore. 

“_ Bien sûr! Il est dans la chambre _ 502.” The doorman replies happily, Ben smiles gratefully.

“_ Merci beaucoup monsieur _.” He replied roll the man, before turning back to group. “He’s in room 502.”

“Well, well! Who knew our little Benjamin was fluent in French?” Richie asks with a grin. “Spend a couple of semesters abroad, eh?” 

Ben flushes red, shaking his head. “C’mon,” ugh, he was no fun. Richie was already missing Eddie, who was _ so easy _to make fun of. 

“_ Une dernière chose, _ ” the man says, just has they were heading to the elevator. Ben stopped first, obviously listening to what he was saying. He turns around to face the doorman, who continues; “ _ J'ai vu _ Sonia Kaspbrak _ , mais elle n'était pas avec son petit garçon _.”

Ben’s brows furrowed for a minute, like he was mulling over that he said to him. 

“Well? What’d he say?” Richie asks, impatiently. Ben shakes his head.

“_ Merci _.” He says, leading the way to the elevator, everyone follows. Richie was about to ask again, when Ben answers him. “He said that Sonia came in alone. Eddie wasn’t with her.” 

That couldn’t be right. Richie opened the app on his phone again, and they were practically on top of Eddie’s signal. “Maybe he missed him?”

“Probably.” Ben replies back, and it wasn’t reassuring in the least. 

Finally they made it to the fifth floor, their apartment wasn’t hard to find. As soon as he spotted it, Richie knocked on the wood a few quick times, impatiently.

It didn’t take long for the door to swing open, almost violently, “oh, Eddie, I knew you-“ Sonia freezes, her eyes comically wide at the sight of them standing there.

“Where’s Eddie?” Richie asks, now slightly more concerned than he was a few minutes ago. 

Sonia’s face turns hard, and she tries to swing the door shut - but, really. She’s face to face with five demigods, she was way out of her league. Richie caught the door easily, holding it open with one arm. Sonia struggles for a moment, even trying to put all of her weight into the door to over power Richie, it doesn’t work. “_ Ugh _!” She cries, retreating into her living room.

Richie looks over to Bev, who happens to be standing closest to him. They raise an eyebrow at each other because - wow. This lady was something else. Then they follow in. 

“Intruders! I did not say you could enter my home!” Sonia says, huddled in the corner of her living room. 

Richie can feel all of them collectively roll their eyes before Bev speaks up. “Tell is where Eddie is and we’ll be on our way.” 

Sonia shakes her head almost violently. “Even if I knew where he was - I wouldn’t tell the likes of _ you. _” She spits the word out like it was poison, glaring venomously at the group, her eyes shifting from person to person. 

“What the _ hell _ is your problem?” Richie asks, stepping forward, Sonia inches back further against the wall, but Richie doesn’t care. He continues to step forward. “You told him he was _ cursed _ \- what kind of mother fucking does that?” 

“You don’t know what its like, having a son marked for _ death _.” Sonia was crying at this point, her mascara smeared all over her eyes, probably from earlier too. 

Beverly looks at Richie questioningly, but Richie doesn’t have a clue. 

“Because he’s the son of Hades?” Beverly asks, stepping forward.

“Do _ not _say his name in my house!” Bev holds up her hands, relenting and Sonia seems to get calmer. It was like they were dealing with a wild animal. 

“I’m sorry, Ms. Kaspbrak. But - really, we want to get to the bottom of this.” She says and Sonia sniffs, wiping her nose with the back of her hand, she then crosses her arms, glaring at the floorboards. After a moment of tentative silence, she walks down a hallway, disappearing from sight.

“Um. What the fuck?” Richie asks, everyone else looking just as confused. 

“Wait, _ shh _! I think she’s coming back.”

And she did, this time holding something. It was a piece of paper. She thrusts her arm out to Bev, not looking at her - instead keeping her eyes on the ground. Beverly took the paper slowly, and it wasn’t just a piece of paper. It was a photograph - an old one. It was in color, but it had been folded multiple times, and the edges were all worn. 

In the photo stood a couple. A man who was tall - like seriously tall. Maybe over 6’5”. He had black, shoulder-length hair, he looked pale and had a prominent nose. Richie would say he was fairly handsome - no Adonis, but few were. He wore a well fitted black suit. He had his arm around a young woman who was incredibly short, at least in comparison to the man. She was thin, with long, brown, curly hair styled in a sort of 90’s side pony. She wore a simple blouse with a long skirt. She was pretty, in a girl next door kind of way. Naturally tan, round, heart shaped face, and full lips. Neither smiled at the camera, not really. It was like they were forced to take the photo together, it was kind of uncomfortable.

Sonia sniffs after a moment. “That was me and him almost 18 years ago, now.” 

Richie’s jaw practically hits the floor, he looks back and forth between the picture of the girl and Sonia, taking the old thing from Bev to get a closer look. “_ Wait _ \- this is _ you _?” He ignores the shoulder slap Bev gives him, still too shook by the revelation that Sonia Kaspbrak, the one that stood in front of him now, was the pretty girl in the photo. “What the hell happened - ow! Okay, okay - I get it.” He holds up his hands to Bev, she gives him one last glare. 

Sonia continues, I disturbed by Richie’s outburst - in fact, she seems to be holding her head a little higher, now. “That was before I found out I was pregnant with my little Eddie.”

“What’s this have to do with what you said earlier?” Stan asks, also quick and to the point. 

Sonia sniffs again, wringing her hands together. “Well, he wasn’t around much, and I was almost in my third trimester at this point - I was waiting for a taxi, you see - when I saw them. Three ladies, they seemed so _ old _ and frail, but they sat on a bench across the street. _ He _ told me I was gifted - I could see through the mist, or whatever he called it. So I was used to seeing… strange things. But usually I was ignored.” She takes a deep, shaking breath, now talking quicker. “Those old ladies, they sat there, knitting this hideous blue yarn - and that’s when they spoke to me.” She stops, standing completely still. “I could hear them in my head. And I’ll never forget what they said to me;

_ “Oh, she carries the son of darkness.” The one on the left spoke, her voice gravelly and deep. _

_ “Poor thing, to carry a thing of such burden.” The one on the right says after, her soft voice filled with such pity and remorse. _

_ “He’s marked for death - that much is certain.” The woman in the middle says, matter of factly. _

“I yelled at them, after - asking them what they meant, how they could say such cruel things to a child.” Sonia looked bitter. Her fists shaking. 

For the first time, Richie felt a little sorry for her. Sorry in a way he felt sorry for his own mother - but most of all he felt sorry for Eddie. 

“I had them make that ring for him for his protection, don’t you see now?” She yells, throwing her hands into the air desperately. 

A hand touched Richie’s arm, it was Bev, leaning in close. “We should leave.” Richie looks back at Sonia, whose eyes are all red and puffy, who was practically snarling at him. He nods. They head for the door, and Richie spots a familiar backpack sitting on a table near the door. He swipes it as they head out, holding it in his arms so that Sonia won't see.

“You lot stay away from my boy! I’m not going to ask again - I will call the police.” She yells as they all exit, she slams the door behind him. Richie was tempted to snap back - but she was clearly damaged, somehow. It wasn’t saying much, but she did look happier in that photo she gave them - the one that Richie still held. He pocketed it, maybe Eddie would want to see it later. 

“What now?” Mikes asks, and Richie can tell he’s trying his best to be polite - Mike doesn’t even know Eddie, and he probably has a hundred questions. 

“Let’s just regroup, clear our heads.” Beverly says.  


They head to Central Park, which is in walking distance from the apartment on the off chance that Eddie fled to the park earlier (the odds of them running into him? Low. The park was fucking massive, filled with locals and tourists).

They’re all clustered on a few benches - Bill takes George to find some food (he’d been slow key complaining for about 30 minutes now). 

“Well, where could he have gone?” Mike asks, they were spit balling ideas - coming up with fucking zilch so far. Beverly shakes her head - because how could they know? He’d forgotten his phone, and Richie thinks for the first time in his life that okay, maybe Boomers were onto something when they said their generation didn’t know what to do without their phones - Eddie could maybe payphone them, if he remembered any of their numbers. Phone books didn’t exist any more, that much Richie knew. 

“Do you think he’s okay?” Ben asks and Richie looks at him - Ben looks down. “It was just a question - I’m as worried as you are. There’s still that third trial.” 

Of course he knew that. Of course Ben was worried - he was as much Eddie’s friend as Richie was. 

“I think if something bad happened to him, we’d know - right? I mean, the kid as like, twelve prophecies written about him at this point, it’s a little ridiculous.” Richie jokes because he doesn’t know what else to say. 

Then there’s a noise behind him, like straight out of a sci-fi movie. 

“Hey guys.” Richie whips around and comes face to face with Eddie - who, for some reason, is dressed in an expensive looking black ensemble and holy shit, does it look fantastic.

“Eddie!” Bev cries, jumping to her feet and wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

“Hey, Bev.” Eddie says with a smile so big, Richie can see a dimple in his cheek. 

“Glad to see you’re alright, Eddie.” Ben says, wrapping an arm around him in a sort of side hug. 

Richie feels a little frozen - a hug feels like too much, right? Really, Eddie wasn’t gone for _ that _long, and it's not like Richie was pulling out his hair in worry. 

Mike nudges his shoulder with his own, looking at him with his dumb Apollo, all knowing smile. Richie looks as him back, and then they’re kind of having a stare off and it’s pretty stupid - Richie doesn’t even see George and Bill make their way back until George’s loud “Eddie!” And the kids running and tackling him in a hug. 

“Whoa - George?” Eddie looks up at Bill, who’s smiling back at him. “What’s he doing here?” 

Bill shrugs, “well, couldn’t exactly leave him at school all alone.” 

Eddie purses his lips, but doesn’t say anything else. His warm, brown eyes flit over to Richie and then to Mike, a look of surprise and curiosity on his face. Mike steps forward, arm outstretched. “The name’s Mike Hanlon, son of Apollo. Nice to meet you.” 

Eddie blinks before smiling back, “Eddie Kaspbrak - um, son of Hades. Good to meet you, too.” Eddie reached out to shake his hand back, after George pulls back from his hug. 

“I have to say, Eddie - I’m pretty disappointed in you.” Richie says, Eddie looks over to him and away from Mike, brows furrowed and brown eyes confused. “I cannot believe you hid the fact that your mom was a complete snack -” He holds out the photo he took from Sonia’s earlier, watching with barely suppressed glee as Eddie’s eyes widen with surprise. “I mean, 10 out of 10 - would totally bang.”

“Where did you get that?” Eddie says, quickly snatching the photo away - Richie lets him have it, of course. 

“We paid a visit to your mom when we were trying to find you. She gave that to us - well, she forgot to ask for it back.” Richie says, Eddie looks surprised at that - which, weird considering he knew that this was plan B. “And I might just pay her another visit, later tonight after seeing that photo-”

“Shut the hell up, asshole.” Eddie says, but there’s no bite. He’s looking down in complete awe. “Thanks.” He says after a moment, looking up at Richie. Richie pretends to ignore the way his heart speeds up at Eddie’s complete sincerity, the way he’s looking at Richie. Then Eddie looks away, looking at the rest of their group. “For this,” he gestures to the photo, “and for waiting for me.” He swallows hard. “I really appreciate it.”

They all smile back at him, and really - Richie can only take so much heartfelt sincerity at once. “You gonna tell us where you got your sick threads? You look like Manhattan’s newest debutante.” Richie jokes, eyeing Eddie up and down. The all black look really worked for him - must have been in the genes. _ Speaking of jeans _ \- the black and skinny kind worked all sorts of wonders on Eddie’s legs.

“Oh, ignore Richie - I think you look amazing!” Bev says, and she should know, with being a bit of a fashionista herself. She tried her hardest to get Richie to stop dressing in flashy printed shirts, mostly by gifting him tasteful clothes for the holidays and his birthday. It worked, a little. 

“Thanks, Bev.” Eddie looks bashful. “Persephone picked it out.” 

“You met Persephone?” Stan asks, eyebrows raised. 

“Yeah - that’s kind of where I was. In the Underworld.” Eddie explains. 

“Whoa. How was that?” Bill asks, intrigued. 

Eddie shrugs, picking at the hem of his black jacket. “Good - I mean, full of dead people and that was fucking terrifying, but good. It’s not all scary - not what I thought it would be.”

Richie notices a glint as Eddie turns his head to address Bill - and honestly, it’s a fucking travesty that he missed it earlier (he didn’t know how he missed it, either, must have been distracted by the other flashy clothes) because on his right ear is a dangling piece of metal. It’s short and small, but there - the metal was dark and it glinted dangerously in the evening sun. It was pretty fucking hot.

“Holy shit, you have body jewelry now.” Richie says, practically entranced by the small piece of metal. 

“Oh my God, you do!” Beverly cries in delight, stepping to get a closer look. 

Eddie’s hand instinctively goes to his right ear, grasping it. “I-it’s not body jewelry, dipshit!” His face is flushed a deep, charming shade of red. 

Richie can’t help but laugh, “then what is it? Because from where I’m standing -”

Eddie pulls it and Richie can’t help but cringe, he’s not like, an earring expert or anything - but he knows you’re not supposed to rip it out of your ear the moment someone teases you. But there’s not a terrifying spurt of blood, instead there’s a purple light, and it has transformed into a spear. It was black, blacker than a nightmare. 

“What the fuck.” Richie says, jaw dropping.

“Whoa.” Mike whispers next to him. 

“It was a gift from my dad.”

“What’s it made out of?” Beverly asks, eyeing the spear with impressed curiosity. 

“Stygian iron? I think.” Eddie says back. 

Mike whistles low, and impressed. “Stygian iron is one of the most powerful metals in the world, pretty sure only Hades’ children can use it. Make sure to take care of it.” 

“So yet met Hades?” Stan asks, and there’s something in the way he asks it - kind of in disbelief, maybe a little bit jealous.

“Yeah. Yeah we met, briefly.” Eddie says. He doesn’t really look like he wants to talk about it, so none of them press him for more info. 

“We should get a hotel for the night, it’s getting dark.” Bev says, and they all agreed. Heading to Camp Halfblood was next on their agenda, but they were all tired (Ben looked like he was falling asleep on his feet) and hungry. Eddie turned his new weapon back into an earring, and off they went.   


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Somehow this chapter came out to 11k?? So much lore dump! Persephone! I feel like in the PJO novels she's not as nice as I think she should be - she'll be the best step mom every guys. Eddie deserves it!! 
> 
> This chapter marks the ‘end’ of the first arc of this fic! Pretty ty exiting - I remember when I thought there would only be 10 chapters, and here I am writing 11k each update and we’re still in the early stages lmao I am a fool. But things will really start amping up next chapter! 
> 
> I don't have much to add this week - but I hope you all enjoy this chapter! Leave a comment if you can, thanks for the love, yall! <3


	8. Chapter 8

Turns out Eddie was practically loaded after his visit with daddy dearest.

“I don’t know - if I reach into my pocket and, like, think about money it’s just there.” Was his explanation. Came in really handy when they needed to get a hotel for the night - unsurprisingly, Eddie refused any hotel less than 4 Star - “bed bugs are an epidemic in New York! Anything less than that is bound to be infested with the things!” 

So they shacked up at a nice (nicer than any place Richie had ever stayed at, that was for sure) hotel in the Upper Eastside. “Holy shit, you’re like our sugar daddy, Eds!” 

Eddie glares at him as the front desk worker booked the four rooms; they had decided to split up two to a room, to give everyone a little bit more space, but still sticking to their buddy system. “Ew, that makes me sound disgusting.” He says as he passes a chunk of $100’s to the worker, who looked like she’d rather be anywhere else other than helping them. 

“Hey, who’s your favorite sugar baby? It’s me, right?” Richie flashes his the most dazzling smile he could - which was pretty fucking dazzling, not that he was one to toot his own horn or anything. 

Eddie stares him right in the eyes, unimpressed. His brows furrowed like they usually were when he was not amused. “If anyone’s my favorite, it’s Mike.”

“Nice,” Mike says with an easy grin, holding up a fist for Eddie to bump (which he does painfully awkwardly, clearly never having been given one before).

“You don’t even know Mike!” Richie tries not to sound all whiny - but, really. 

“I know enough about him to know he’s not as annoying as you-“ Eddie snaps back - he can’t help it, Richie can tell. He knows because Eddie purses his lips before, sending a tentative glance to the front desk person, who is very much pretending that they aren’t there while they process the rooms they (Eddie) booked. 

“Oh, I’m the annoying one? I’m not the one who made us drive in rush hour traffic to get to a hotel that suited your highness!” 

Richie takes joy in this, really - the petty squabbling, the pointless arguments, and first-grader insults. He’s never known anyone quite like Eddie, someone he can be himself around. And, though he’d never say it out loud, he liked having someone to mess with - someone who could take it and not think that Richie was just being mean. 

It didn’t take them much longer to book the rooms - they managed to book 4, with a large queen in each. They’d be splitting up into pairs. “Okay, Bill d’you want to-“ Eddie starts as they all are gathered around in the hallways their rooms were located in. 

“S-sorry, Eddie - I’m bunking with Georgie,” Bill says, sending a genuinely apologetic smile to the shorter boy, who’s lips screw in this hilarious way - like he just took a bite out of a lemon. 

"_G_ _ eorge _ .” His little brother corrects him, not even looking up from his iPhone as he tapped away. 

“Oh, right. Um, Ben?” He turns to Ben next, who also sends him a sad smile. 

“Stan already asked me, sorry.” Ben said as Stan shrugs, already heading towards one of the rooms, keycard in hand. 

Eddie sends a desperate look at Bev and Mike, who now have another of the room doors opened, “see you in the morning, Eddie?” Bev says - and she doesn’t look sorry, not like the other two did. But she smiles at him nonetheless, holding the door open for Mike.

“Good luck, Eddie.” Mike says, sending a pointed glance at Richie - who gives him the finger. Mike ignores him, mostly, Richie can almost see his smile growing bigger. “And if he annoys you too much, just say ‘beep, beep’ he’ll get the hint.”

“It’s true, works like a charm.” Beverly says from the doorway, almost smirking at the two of them. 

“Wow, guys! Just give away all my secrets - not cool.” The door clicks shut softly behind them, and suddenly they are alone in the hallway.

“I can’t believe I paid for everyone, and they stick me with you.” Eddie says in disbelief. Richie can’t help his grin, slinging an arm over Eddie’s shoulders he steers him towards their door, fishing out their room card.

“Don’t be such a drama queen, Eds.” He looks down at Eddie, whose lips are downturned into a familiar frown - something Richie had become well acquainted with in the weeks he’s come to know him. It was adorable, in a sort of sad puppy kind of way. His brows were furrowed, pinched in the middle. “If you keep frowning like that, it’ll stick, y’know.” And before Eddie can do much else but roll his eyes, Richie pinches his right cheek, “but I think it’s cute, cute, cute!” 

“Ugh, get the fuck away from me!” Eddie shoves Richie away, his face an adorable shade of red - he wasn’t frowning anymore, his face now more of a scowl. The smaller boy all but throws their door open, practically stomping inside, Richie couldn’t help but loudly cackle and follow behind.

The room was nice, not that Richie had much to compare it to. It was slightly smaller than the room he shared with Stan back at the school, but leagues bigger than the Hermes cabin - so he couldn’t complain. There was a single bed (they were honestly lucky enough to get what they got, considering they booked the rooms so last minute), but it was large enough to fit the two of them (“especially, because, you know - you’re like the size of a Hobbit.” “I will fucking send you to the shadow realm, don’t test me, Tozier.”), his heart raced a little at sharing the bed with Eddie - which, weird. He shared his bed with Bev many a’times, so he chalked it up to being tired. It had been an exhausting day, and it was late. Pushing nine o’clock by the time they were getting settled in. 

They took turns showering, Richie opting to go first - he kind of felt like a jittery mess, a heavy buzzing underneath his skin. So he took the hottest shower that he could stand, standing under the steady flow of water, he took the chance to think. Like, actually think. He could practically hear Stan’s deadpanned joke of ‘oh, for once?’ But everything was happening fast - so fast, even by Richie’s standards (and as a son of Hermes, he practically lived his life in the fast lane), but it was still a little hard to believe that just under a month ago, he was back at Camp doing nothing - doing nothing on purpose.

And now? Now he was caught up in a whirlwind of quests and prophecies - Roman Gods were apparently a thing, which was still confusing. He’d become friends with not only the son of Jupiter but the son of Hades - who was probably inspecting their room for bed bugs at the moment or reorganizing his tiny backpack of clothes. It made him giggle, a little. 

Of course, growing up in a camp full of halfbloods born from all different types of Gods - there was never one from any of the Big Three. It had been practically scandalous when Bev had joined Camp about four years ago, there had never, ever been a halfblood child of Hera - not in the ancient Greecian times, and certainly not before - she was the first.

There was always talk about what the children of the Big Three would be like - the children of Zeus would be strong, they would be outgoing leaders (and although Jupiter was not Zeus, Richie could see those qualities in Bill. He certainly took charge, and from their training sessions Richie knew he was more than capable of fighting, not to mention his apparent ability to call down lightning bolts.)

The children of Poseidon would probably be moody - just like the seas. But Richie often joked that they would definitely be beach bums, not wanting to do anything but catch some waves - maybe protest straws while they’re at it. 

Hades, though, they were always so sure how his children would turn out. Dark, pale - probably wearing too much black eyeliner, definitely loners. Probably mean, just like Hades was rumored to be, all alone in the Underworld. But Eddie? Oh no, he wasn’t like that at all. Maybe he was a little mean, but Richie liked that about him. He was fun, and when Richie finally made him laugh - oh, he laughed alright. He would laugh so hard Richie could see tears in his eyes, his tanned, olive skin flushed bright red. Richie wore those moments like a badge of honor. 

And he wasn’t a loner, far from it. Richie suspected that if his mother hadn’t been such an awful influence on Eddie, that he would’ve already been surrounded by more friends than just Bill. He didn’t expect to ever even meet a child of Hades, but he for sure didn’t expect his son to wear too short shorts and colorful t-shirts (although Richie hadn’t missed the fact that he also looked really good in the black he was expected to wear). Eddie himself was unpredictable.

Eventually, Richie got out of the shower, towel drying his hair he puts on his pajamas (an old t-shirt and loose pants and exits the bathroom. He’s greeted with a familiar glare as Eddie sits cross-legged on what Richie is assuming his side of the bed. 

“Took you long enough, there better be enough hot water for me, dickhead.” Eddie says, hopping off the bed, a bundle of clothes in his arms. Richie bows slightly at the waist, sweeping his arms out towards the bathroom as Eddie walks by.

“I tested the water for you, your majesty - it is not poisoned nor is it acid in disguise.” He’s doing his British accent (which is pretty good, don’t listen to Bev). Eddie swats at him as he passes.

“Don’t ever call me that again, ew. And your accent is awful, by the way. Why do you sound so Australian?” Eddie says, his lips twisted in a sort of disgusted frown. Richie stands back up again, unable to suppress his grin.

“Isn’t that what you are? I mean, technically you’re a prince-”

He’s cut off by the bathroom door being slammed in his face, but Richie was able to catch a glimpse of a blush - which was endlessly amusing. Almost any guy their age would die to be called actual royalty. Technically, Beverly was also a princess (technically - Richie wasn’t too sure how it all worked, and how Zeus felt about his wife having a halfblood daughter, even if Hera didn’t physically cheat on him. Bev was never super open with the details, and Richie was never too keen on prying). 

Richie collapses carelessly on the bed with a sigh, finally able to relax. He must have drifted off for a while because the next thing he hears is the bathroom door clicking open. He can feel the hot steam from the bathroom warm the room, and he hears Eddie sigh. 

“Really, asshole?” He’s not whispering, not really - but he’s talking quieter, his voice exasperated. And Richie decides to stay there, on his back, arms spread wide on the bed, just to see what Eddie will do. “Rich,” he says, and Richie fights a smile, miraculously keeping his face straight. “C’mon, Richie, you’re literally taking up the whole bed.” He says slightly louder, and Richie continues to lay there, eyes shut and glasses still on. He can feel the bed dip slightly as Eddie crawls on, Richie can feel his hand ghost over his shoulder, hesitating, before he ever so gently lays his hand onto Richie’s shoulder, shaking him gently. “Rich -”

Richie can’t take it anymore, he opens his eyes, grabbing Eddie’s arm with both of his hands he yells out a battle cry, clearly scaring the shit out of Eddie, who practically screams. Richie takes the opportunity to flip Eddie over - which is easy, he’s so light (but his skin is so cold, like stone, even after a hot shower). 

“What the fuck, Richard?!” Eddie shouts from under Richie, scowling up at him as Richie grins down at him triumphantly. He’s wriggling, slightly, but Richie has the height and weight advantage.

“Rule number 47 of being a halfblood; always be on your guard!” 

“Your rules are fucking bullshit!” Eddie yells back and Richie can’t help but cackle, because he wasn’t wrong. 

“Says who?”

Eddie rolls his eyes, “literally everyone, dickhead.”

“Hey, this is a valuable lesson, Eds, pay attention -  _ fuck _ !” Richie was, famously, not following his own advice. He was so distracted by the wriggling Eddie underneath him, he wasn’t paying attention to what he was doing - while he was distracted, Eddie managed to pull up both legs and plant them into Richie’s lower stomach, kicking him to the side, Richie is forced to roll off of Eddie. 

Then Eddie is on top of him, grinning big, brown eyes practically twinkling. Richie things his brain short circuits for half a second, his breath caught in his throat as Eddie straddles his waist. “Ha! How does that feel, fucker?” He asks so smugly. It snaps Richie out of whatever stupor he was in because he can’t just let the little twerp win. 

Richie smirks mischievously, he quickly brings his hands to Eddie’s armpits and starts tickling him. “Rule number 89; always be aware of tickling!” Eddie is shrieking, almost, scrambling away from Richie on all fours as best as he could, but escaping Richie is futile, he dives after him. 

“Stop! Stop, I swear to fucking God, Rich!” He shouts through tears and laughter, swatting at Richie’s tormenting hands.

“Your puny God means nothing to me-“

There are three loud thumps on the wall next to them, by the head of the bed. “If you two don’t shut the fuck up and go to bed, I will come over there and end you!” Beverly shouts so loud that it sounds like she’s in the room. They both pause for a moment before bursting into mutual laughter, covering their mouths because Richie believes that that was a promise and not a threat.

They collapse in next to each other on the bed, Eddie kind of gives him a small shove. “Stay on your side of the bed this time, dickhead.” He says as he gets more comfortable under the blanket, but he’s still smiling - Richie is, too. 

“You only need like, a foot of space, Eds. I’m three times as tall as you.” 

He can hear Eddie scoff, see him rolling his eyes. Richie gets off of the bed for a moment to shut off the light, the only one left on is a small lamp on Richie’s side, casting the room in a full, orange glow. He gets back into the bed, also getting comfortable under the stiff, hotel blankets. 

It’s quiet. Richie wants to make a joke, any joke. But, somethings stopping him. Gluing his mouth shut as he lays in bed, a foot or so away from Eddie. He leaves his glasses on for the time being until he’s sure that Eddie is going to go to sleep. 

“Persephone told me that your dad won’t shut up about you.” Eddie says, almost startling him out of his thoughts. It’s random, a random fact out of nowhere. 

“What?” Richie asks, his voice soft like Eddie’s. He can feel and hear Eddie shifting under the blankets, turning on his side to look at Richie. Richie decides to do the same. 

“Your dad. She says he won’t stop talking about you to the other Gods - on Iris mail, or something.” Eddie explains, his big brown eyes looking at Richie, waiting for a reaction. 

Richie blinks. “Oh.” He says after a moment of processing. 

Eddie’s brows furrow, “‘oh’?” He echoes. “I tell you that your dad, Hermes, won’t stop talking about how cool you are to the other Olympians, and your only reaction is - ‘oh’?” Eddie sounds annoyed - or maybe amused, and a little confused. But what can Richie say to that? The idea that his dad is bragging to the other Gods about him - that’s all a little too much, too much for the amount of brainpower he’s working with right now. 

Richie shrugs his shoulders, which is kind of difficult when you’re laying on your side. “What do you want me to say? That’s cool, I guess. Weird. It’s more weird than cool - I don’t know.” It’s a grumbled, rambly reply, but Richie wasn’t expecting it, so it’s the best he could do. 

Eddie’s quiet for a moment before he hums softly, looking at Richie, eyes considering. They’re close. They’ve been this close before, numerous times - but never at night, never when it was just the two of them and it was so quiet. They’re so close that Richie could count each freckle on Eddie’s face - and he kind of wants to.

“You never talk about your mom. I mean, you’ve had the pleasure of meeting mine, but I’ve never heard anything about yours.” Eddie says softly after a moment.

“There’s not much to say.” Richie replies with a shrug. “I was too much for her, I think. Too loud, got in too much trouble at school - y’know, the usual halfblood shit. So I left.”

“You left?” Eddie asks, brows pinched in confusion. Richie nods back, a kind of jerky, uncomfortable motion. He looks away from Eddie’s big brown eyes, eyes that Richie is sure see’s right through him. 

“Yup.” He pops the ‘p’. “I was eight. Hit the road, never looked back.” The concerned look Eddie gives him is downright adorable, his lips are parted slightly in shock, or maybe surprise. 

“How did you - I mean, wasn’t dangerous?”

Richie snorts, amuses by Eddie’s reaction. “Duh. I dunno, it was for the best. She lives in California, now - has a husband, a daughter too.”

Eddie looks at him sadly, as if Richie told him the most tragic thing in the world - which was hilarious, considering Richie didn’t think of his story as tragic by any means. He meant when he said it turned out for the best. He liked living at Camp for the year, it trumped going to school, that was for sure. “Do you ever see them?” Eddie asks, slowly and thoughtfully. 

“Nah. She tries to call sometimes, though.” She tried. She did, but Richie was good. He was fine where he was - apparently, his father sang his graces in Olympus, and that was enough for Richie. He didn’t want or need to interrupt his mother's life, he’d done that enough when he was a kid. 

Eddie’s looking at him again, brows drawn together, lips pursed tightly, but Richie had had enough of him playing Oprah for the night. He stretches his arms high above his head with a giant (fake) yawn. “Wow, am I tired or what? I think it’s time to turn it in, Eds.” 

“But -“ Richie is already turning over, turning off the lamp next to him, the room is suddenly encased in darkness. Richie wonders if Eddie finds comfort in the darkness. He supposes that the idea of Hades’ son liking the dark was just another stereotype they thought of when they were younger. 

“Night, Eds.” Richie says, taking his glasses off and placing them on the side table, before settling back into the bed, still facing away from Eddie. He can hear Eddie breathe out a sigh.

“Goodnight, Richie.” He mumbled back, rustling under his blankets for a moment before he, too, is quiet. 

Sleep doesn’t come easy to Richie that night, not really. He can still feel the buzz of excitement under his skin. He hasn’t gotten a good sleep in a while - not since they were given this quest. 

One trial left. One trial and a world-ending storm. The Fates didn’t want to make it easy for them.    
  
  


The next morning they all gathered in the restaurant attached to the hotel for breakfast. Richie discovered that Eddie is somehow even more grumpy in the morning than usual, which is remarkable because he was literally always grumpy. 

They’re given a large, circular booth in the corner (far away from the other guests, which - fair). It’s a little after ten, and they were all finally well-rested after the crazy few days. Sleep didn’t come easy for Richie, but when he finally crashed, he crashed hard. He had to be awoken by Eddie, who shook him aggressively, grumbling that they were all going to be meeting downstairs in ten minutes (“and please brush your teeth, ugh”). 

Breakfast was nice. The food was good, your typical American breakfast.

“Guys, look.” Stan says, pointing to a large flat screen T.V. that hung not too far from their table. It was turned onto the news station. The volume was low, but there were subtitles. The news anchor spoke seriously to the camera. “‘A very sudden and very serious storm has hit the New York area.’” Stan reads the subtitles. “‘High winds and heavy rain is being experienced by the area just outside of New York City. Flash floods are hitting the streets, causing many to be shut down.’” A video that looked like it was taken on a cellphone popped up - and it was bad. Like, hurricane kind of bad. Then a map popped up, showing where the storm was hitting and just how big it was. If Richie didn’t know any better, he’d say that is was a hurricane. Because storms didn’t get that big - at least not any that he’d ever seen. It was mainly outside of the city, but from the looks of the weather map, he could tell that the city would be getting some of the storm.

“Isn’t that right where the school is?” Ben asks, rhetorically - because they all know where the school is, and he’s right. It’s right in the thick of it - right in the eye of the storm. 

“Uh-oh, we got trouble guys.” Mike says, looking down at his phone. 

“What is it?” Bill asks, from Mike’s side, leaning closer to get a look at his phone. Mike looks up, 

“There’s been a lot of road closures on the way to Camp. And by a lot, I mean literally all the ones we need to take.” Mike replies. It was like Murphy’s law - they were so close to getting to Camp. So close! Richie rubs a hand under his glasses, fighting back a sigh. 

“What do we do now?” Ben asks tentatively like he can feel the tension that suddenly appeared. 

“I’d say we go to Camp Jupiter, but the drive would take even longer than just waiting out the storm.” Bill says.

“Well, we can’t just sit on our hands until the storm blows over.” Bev says.

“We can go to the library - the main branch is close, just two blocks away.” Stan says, looking at the group, his typical poker face on. 

“Ew, you want us to hang out in a library?” Richie asks, lip curling in pained disgust at the idea. 

“Wait - that’s a good idea.” Bill says, thoughtfully. Stan’s eyes flicker from Richie’s face to Bill’s, looking somewhat surprised. “We can research - on everything that’s happened. They have to have a whole section on Roman and Greek m-mythology.” Bill says, smiling at Stan - who smiles back, somewhat softly. 

Richie rolls his eyes, fighting back a groan. “You think they’ll just let a bunch of obnoxious teens hang out there for a day and touch all of their important, old books?” Richie says, holding his hands out for emphasis. 

Stan shakes his head, “my dad’s the head curator there - I used to spend a lot of time in the library when I was younger. We can get a private room, too. For research.” Ugh. Of course Stan’s dad was a fucking librarian. Of course. 

Beverly smiles, “then it’s settled. We’ll head over to the library.” 

It was raining when they left the hotel. Not very hard, thankfully - but it was steady. They rushed over, trying their best to stay dry. When they finally arrived at the library, Richie was impressed. It was huge and looked more like a castle than a boring, old library. 

Stan leads them inside, and they follow behind him in a line - it was somewhat crowded, it being a rainy Saturday morning. They approached the front desk, where a pleasant-looking older woman, who was probably in her 50’s, sat, her head buried in some book. Stan paused in front of the large desk and clears his throat. “Ahem.” This startles the woman to attention. 

“How can I - oh! Is this Stanley I see?” She smiles wide, placing her book down in front of her. “Oh my, it’s been so long! How are you, dear?” She asks, her eyes flickering to the rest of them. 

“I’m fine, Ms. Leery, thank you.” Stan replies, smiling back. 

“Are these your friends?” She asks, still smiling. 

“Yes - we were hoping to use a private room, we have a school project - our final for the semester, and we really need to buckle down and get to it.” Stan says. Ms. Leery, waves a hand, 

“Of course! Please, if your friends are as well behaved as you are, Stanley, they are welcome here. Follow me, please.” She steps out from behind her desk, gesturing for the group to follow her - they do, of course. They make their way through what is practically a maze of tables, people, and bookshelves, though they’re finally lead to the back, on the second level, where a row of private rooms were. “Here you are, dear.” 

“Thank you, Ms. Leery.” Stan says with a grateful smile. They all started filing into the room. It was medium-sized, complete with a large, rectangular dark oak table in the middle, surrounded by about a dozen chairs. There’s a whiteboard on the wall as well, and the wall was lined with windows that overlooked the library. 

“My pleasure! Now, if you need anything else you know how to ask.” She says, near the door, Stan takes a step closer. 

“Is my dad here, by chance?” Stan asks, quietly. Richie can see the older woman shook her head with a sad smile. 

“No, he isn’t. He’s in Boston for a meeting right now, unfortunately. I can tell him you stopped by?” Ms. Leery says, Stan shakes his head, shoulders drawn in - Richie can see that the smile is gone. 

“No, that’s okay. Thank you for your help.” Stan says as Ms. Leery steps out the door with a smile and a wave, Stan shuts the door. Richie looks away before Stan can see that he was watching the whole exchange. 

“So, where do we start?” Bev asks. 

Turns out that the library was no joke - there was a huge mythology section. Like, four giant shelves worth. So that’s where they started. Well - ‘they’ was a generous term. It was mostly led by Stan, Ben, and Mike. The rest just grabbed any books that they were told to grab, read anything they were told to read. 

So Richie sat there, next to Ben at the big oak table, flipping mindlessly through the pages of some large, old Greek book - he was able to read the Greek words easily, that was a good perk of being a halfblood. But just because he could read the language, didn’t mean he enjoyed reading. Because he was still a halfblood, his ADHD made it hard to just sit and concentrate on a boring old book - one that was the Iliad but not translated to English. Snoozefest. 

Richie yawned loudly, stretching his arms over his head, then cracking his neck - doing anything to keep himself from falling asleep. “I don’t know how you find all of this so interesting, Haystack.” Richie says, turning to Ben - who was surprisingly not buried in the book that sat open in front of him. Instead, he gazed out of one of the windows. 

Richie followed his line of sight - fighting a smile when he saw Beverly near a stack of books, talking to Mike - Eddie was also there, Richie’s heart practically skips a beat, he can feel his hands starting to get sweaty. He clears his throat, but finds himself unable (or unwilling) to tear his eyes away from him. “Never took you for a ‘admire from afar’ kinda dude, Haystack.” His voice is a little wobbly, Richie notices minutely. 

He can feel his heart grow fonder as Eddie attempts to reach a book on a shelf that was taller than him, Mike having to grab it - Richie suddenly wishes that was him. That he was the one grabbing the book Eddie wanted. 

Ben chuckled nervously, “well you don’t know me very well then, Richie.” Richie isn’t really paying attention to Ben, though - not really. His heart is beating faster, his mouth is a little dry - it’s a weird feeling, kind of like someone has his heart in a vice grip. Like he’s suffocating, he can’t breathe and he thinks he’s okay with that. He’s okay with that because he gets to watch Eddie just  _ being  _ Eddie. 

He wants to go over there, he wants to feel Eddie’s sun-kissed skin, to cover each freckle with his mouth -

Then he feels it. Kind of like the need to vomit - the urgent uncontrollable we’d to just let it out. Except it’s worse because it’s not actual vomit - it’s word vomit. 

“- she’s so nice, and pretty of course. But it’s more than that-“ Ben is rambling but Richie hasn’t heard a word of it.

“I like Eddie.” He blurts out, like vomit. He can feel his heart pounding in his ears, his hands sweating profusely. He can see Ben whipped his head around, but Richie hardly notices that either. It’s like he’s under some spell, the world all fuzzy and pink around him as he stares at Eddie, wide-eyed and flushed. “I like him, I want to kiss him - and, and hold his hands. I want to-“ Richie slaps a hand over his mouth, cutting himself off. 

He pants for a moment, attempting to calm himself down - but it’s not working. But his head is clearer now. He tears his eyes away from Eddie like he was burned. Like he can’t bear to look at him any longer. In his periphery he can see Ben staring at him, wide-eyed. 

Richie swallows hard, hand still over his mouth. 

_ Ben _ . Of course. 

Richie laughs - it’s broken and humorless. “I fucking get it now.” He says, taking his hand away from his mouth. Still looking down at the table. 

“Um-“ Ben starts, but Richie doesn’t want to hear it. He’s angry, livid, even. 

“I can’t believe we were too fucking stupid to see it before now -“ he turns to look at Ben, who looks so shocked - but also a little confused. “I finally figured out who your parent is! I mean, I don’t know how we missed it - you magically charmed that asshole doorman, yesterday-“

“I didn’t-“

Richie plows on, because he really doesn’t want to hear it. “You can fucking turn invisible, if that isn’t the biggest hint in the goddamn world! And, not to mention whatever the fuck this was-“ he throws his hands in the air, gesturing between them. “Eros! You’re the son of fucking Eros - or Cupid, because Roman Gods are apparently a thing now, so.” He stands up quickly, the rolling chair flies out from under him, clacking noisily against the wall. 

“Richie, whatever I did -“ Ben says, pleadingly, standing up too (though less dramatically).

He knows he’s being unfair - he knows he is. But he’s mad, a little bit at Ben, for using his shitty love magic on Richie (even if it was accidental), and a lot at himself for putting himself in the situation in the first place. “Congratu-fucking-lations, we figured it out.” Richie says as he storms through the door. The only way to the exit is past Mike, Bev, and Eddie. So he keeps his eyes in front of him.

“Whoa, everything okay?” Bev says, he can hear the concern in her voice, but Richie ignores it. He can vaguely see Eddie next to her, and he just needs to get out of there before he has a repeat session of what happened earlier. 

“I need a smoke.” He mumbles, brushing by them. He can hear his name being called out, but he doesn’t stop, doesn’t even turn around. He feels a little panicked and a lot claustrophobic. He takes the stairs two at a time, dodging the people that are just in the way until he’s finally throwing the doors open, feeling the cool, rainy air hit his face. He lets out a big breath like he can finally breathe. 

He reaches into his back pocket, fumbling with a half flattened and almost empty box of cigarettes - the cheap kind because Richie isn’t picky. He picks one out (noting that he only had a couple left, he’d need to pick up another pack soon) and puts it in his mouth, lightly biting the end of it and slides his lighter out of his pocket, cupping his hands around the cigarette and lighter to keep the harsh winds away.

When he finally gets it lit he inhales deeply, holding the bitter smoke in his lungs almost to a point where he’s on the verge of cough - then he lets it out with a big sigh.

He feels better, kinda. He still feels wound up, his fingers jittery and itching for something, but he felt less mad - and that was good. He didn’t want to be mad at Ben, but. But he was still pissed that love magic was used on him. At Camp he typically avoided the Aphrodite cabin, unless he wanted to mess with those love sick, vain halfbloods. There were no kids of Eros, he knew that. 

Richie stands under one of the awnings, just out of the pouring rain. The sky was an ugly dark blue grey color, it was dark, even though Richie was sure that it was hardly past noon yet. He leaned against the cold stone, smoking his cigarette for who knows how long.

“You good, man?” It’s Mike. 

Richie shrugs, “never been better.” He says back, glancing at the other boy. Mike’s looking at him, brown eyes concerned. Brows drawn in, he’s looking at him like he’s trying to figure him out. Richie hates when people looked at him like that. 

“Didn’t know you still smoked,” Mike said, joining him against the wall. 

“Does anyone really quit?” He jokes, it’s a humorless thing, but he smiles wryly anyways, and Mike is too nice to not pretend to find him funny, so he smiles too. “Only when I’m stressed.” Richie says after a moment. He feels like he owes Mike something for coming out here. Mike was one of his oldest friends, didn’t feel right to just ignore the guy. 

Mike hums, turning away from Richie and to the rainy Manhattan streets in front of them. “Not like you to get mad.”

“Nobody’s perfect - well, except for you, Mikey.” Richie says with a grin, he can see Mike rolled his eyes playfully. 

“If only everyone could live up to my standards.” Mike replies with a grin of his own. 

“You just set the bar too damn high.” Richie replies, getting a decent chuckle from Mike. They fall back into a comfortable silence, watching the rain, Richie smoking on what was left of the cigarette. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Mike asks, and Richie knows that he knows it’s a fool's errand. When had Richie ever wanted to talk about anything? 

“I’ll be fine.” Richie says with a shake of his head, Mike nods. “Thanks, though.” Richie tacks onto the end - he doesn’t want to seem ungrateful. 

“Anytime, Rich. I’ll see you inside?” Mike asks, nodding towards the door. Richie gives a nod back, lifting his hand in a sort of half-wave as Mike goes back through the door. 

Richie stands there for a moment, back against the hard stone, cigarette dangling from his lips. He’d go back inside soon, but for now, he wanted to clear his head. 

His mind drifts back to just moments earlier - how he looked at Eddie. What he thought about him - he shakes his head, trying to clear his head, he thinks that whatever Ben did (accidentally or not) is still affecting his mind, his thoughts drifting back to Eddie over and over. 

He drops what was left of the cigarette- stomping on the butt and grinding it down into the pavement. He takes out the pack again, sliding another one out and lighting it. Ten more minutes. 

* * *

Stan never really liked the library. Not the way his dad did, anyways. He lived for it - adding new books, finding old ones, the whole nine yards, his dad loved it. Stan practically grew up there, roaming the rows of towering bookshelves, spending his time reading whatever book his dad gave him. 

But he didn’t like it. The smell of old books was suffocating, the bookshelves too tall, making him claustrophobic. 

His dad said that’s how he met his mother - how he met Athena. They were both a lover a knowledge, first and foremost. She fell in love with him because of his passion for books and learning. He told him all of this when Stan asked, once. His dad was busy all the time, either traveling for work or holes up in his office, here at the main branch. So one day, Stan asked how they met - you see, Stan’s dad was matter of fact. He didn’t sugar coat anything for him, although he didn’t tell Stan what he was until many years later. 

So when Stan asked his dad how they met, he replied simply ‘she fell in love with my brain. And I fell in love with her. Not much later she presented him with basket - and in that basket was him. 

You’d think it was romantic. Athena created him from her mind - for his dad. And maybe it would’ve been romantic, but Stan never could quite live up to the perfect image of his mother. He was quiet growing up. So quiet he’d get detention. So quiet that Stan would catch his father looking at him, brows furrowed, as Stan sat with a book, or on an incredibly rare occasion, sat watching television.

For all of his doubting, Stan still believed that his father was a good man - not perfect, but good. Maybe that was why he felt a sort of weird nostalgia for being here - it had been a while since he last was forced to hang out in the library, since before he could take care of himself, since before Stan found out what he was. 

He stood in the back section of the second level, reading the spines of different books - he was looking for a book on Greek mythological monsters. Hoping it would maybe point them in the direction they needed to go. 

It was quiet, he was far away from the rest of their group, who didn’t know the library as well as he did. He ran his finger along the spine of one, gently touching the gold letters when he heard a dull thud, startled, he takes his hand away, looking to his left he finds a book on the ground. It’s fairly small, couldn’t be more than a couple hundred pages. 

Stan looks around, wearily. It wasn’t exactly normal for books to pop out of shelves. He had half a mind to suspect Richie for foul play. But there was no sign of anyone around him - just him. He creeps forward cautiously, kneeling he slowly reaches for the small, opened book, almost expecting it to snap shut and bite him. 

But it doesn’t. It feels just like any of the other books around him. He stands back up, brows furrowed, looking at the book curiously. 

The page it was opened was titled ‘The Aegis Shield’ and of course Stan knew what that was - in a vague way, however. It was Athena’s shield. One of the most famous weapons of the Olympians. It was a bronze shield that bore the face of a Gorgon. It was decorated with hundreds of tassels made of pure gold, it was said to be so terrifying that most enemies and monsters would flee at the very sight of it. 

He swallowed heavily, it was all written in Greek, and Stan was glad he could read it. It spoke of her shield, how it came to be and what it was used for. Athena wasn’t the sole user of the weapon - Zeus also used it in combat frequently. And in their last battle, it was lost. 

Stan frowned, flipping to the next page, which was about some other weapon. That couldn’t be it, could it? Obviously, it was an important weapon, that went without saying, but what was he supposed to do? Stan wasn’t an idiot, he knew that books didn’t just fly off shelves, opened on pages about very specific items that his mother wielded. 

“Hey, Stan.” Stan jumped, for some reason his instinct was to hide the book behind his back, shielding it from sight - so he did. He turned and there stood Bill, his usual smile on his lips. If he noticed the book, he didn’t say anything. 

“Bill. Hi.” Stan says, clearing his throat. Silently cursing himself for acting weird when there was nothing to be weird about - he was just looking at a book, which is what they were all doing. 

Bill whistled low, impressed as he looked around at the section Stan stood in. “This place has an i-impressive collection. We didn’t have any Greek stuff back at Camp, but we have the same Roman books.” Bill mused. 

“Oh, well anything interesting that could help us?” Stan asks, slipping the book into the back waistband of his khakis, thankfully he was wearing a jacket today, so he was sure the small book was covered. “I mean, we basically have no idea what we’re looking for - but still.” Stan joked with a small smile, relaxing now that the book was tucked away. 

“I’ve found a couple of books on Roman monsters and a history book. Was planning on going through those, but uh, it’s like you said; it’s hard to find something when we’re basically in the dark.” Bill says with a chuckle, thumbing through some of the books in front of him, a couple of feet away from Stan. “Times like these make me wish that I could just text my dad and he’d give us like, a clue or something,” Bill says, smiling wryly. 

Stan’s stomach did a flip. “I think the prophecies are the clues, technically,” Stan says back, Bill laughs in agreement, and it’s quiet for a moment. Stan swallows. “Have you-” he pauses, trying to think of the best way to word what he was going to ask. “Have you ever met your dad? Like, in person.” Stan says quickly, he pulls out a random book to try and make himself look busy, unable to meet Bill’s eyes as he turns to Stan. 

“Jupiter? Yeah, a couple of times. Once after I fought off a cyclops, that was a couple of years ago. I was with Georgie out in California. He congratulated me, then gifted me my sword.” Bill says, and it’s so nonchalant that Stan has to fight off gritting his teeth or clenching his fists. “The last time I saw him was on my birthday this year, right before I took this quest. It was pretty quick, but yeah.”

“Oh.” Stan says, dumbly. He didn’t know what kind of answer he was expecting. Maybe he was just hoping that Bill was like him - never having met his father the way that Stan had never met his mother. 

“Why? Is that weird in Greek culture?” It’s kind of a joke question, Stan can tell. Bill was just trying to ease the tension to Stan had brought. 

Stan shakes his head, then shrugs. “Pretty sure Bev has a beach house that she goes to, to meet Hera. Richie just saw Hermes a few days ago - and I’m almost positive that Eddie will be moving into Hades’ palace after all of this is over.” Stan laughs, but it’s tight and constrained - even he can tell how fake it is. He tries not to let the bitter jealousy take root in his heart. It’s not any of their faults that they’ve met their parents, that they made them proud. Stan just hasn’t. And that was on him.

“And you?” Bill asks after a moment. Stan still doesn’t look at him, doesn’t have the courage to. It Stan was brave, he’d be honest with Bill. He’d tell him that no, he hasn’t - not yet, anyway. That it was okay, he just needed to prove himself to her - prove that she didn’t make a mistake when she made him. But Stan wasn’t brave. 

“Yeah. At the beginning of summer, actually. When I found out I was a halfblood.” He lies, eyes still glued to the pages in front of him. 

“Cool. I bet Athena is amazing.” Bill says, fondly. 

Stan swallows hard again, mouth dry. Thankfully he didn’t have to answer. Richie storms past them, but Stan is sure he didn’t see them (they were tucked away in the darkness of the shelves). He hears Richie’s name being called by Bev, but Richie doesn’t stop, he’s making a beeline for the stairs. 

Bill looks at him, and Stan looks back, eyebrows raised. Richie looked pissed. Which was actually kind of rare for a guy like him. Stan was sure he’d never seen him actually mad before. 

Panicked? For sure. Stan remembers after the earthquake (which had turned out to be Eddie) when he called them to his room, face all bloody and bruised, glasses cracked - but he wasn’t worried about himself. He was panicked by Eddie, who was passed out and pale, but otherwise completely fine. 

God knows Richie never took anything seriously - usually, anyways. He made everything a joke. Which is why it was so… strange to see him storm off like that. 

“Is he o-okay?” Bill asks Stan, like he’s supposed to know. 

“Beats me.” Stan says with a shrug - and really, he should go after him. See what wrong - but Stan isn’t good with heart to hearts. He couldn’t even be honest with himself, what good would that do Richie?

Thankfully a moment later Mike’s walking by, casting Bill and Stan a smile, heading down the stairs Richie had practically run down. 

“Things are n-never dull with you guys.” Bill says, turning away from the stairs to look at Stan, Stan smiles back tightly, ignoring the flush on his face. 

“Don’t know if that’s a good thing.” He mutters. 

“Bill!” George runs around the corner, saving Stan from this weird conversation. George was grinning, and he was way too loud for a library. Stan could see Bill cringe. 

“Shhh, Georgie - George. It’s a library, you can’t just run around screaming.” Bill scolds George, who deflates, rolling his eyes. 

“Okay, okay - I get it. I was just going to show you this cool book I found…” He grumbles, practically pouting. 

Stan smiled, tapping George’s shoulder. “You can show me?” He says, laughing at the way the little kid perks up, grinning. 

“Really?” He whisper-shouts, which is okay because they’re in a pretty dead area of the library anyways, Stan is sure it’s just their group up there right now. 

“Lead the way.” Stan says with a nod. George does a dorky fist pump, before turning on his heel and heading back the way he came. He grins at Bill, who is giving him a half-assed glare. 

“He’s got you wrapped around his finger, Stanley.” Bill whispers. 

“Yeah, maybe.” Stan says, shrugging. Who could say no to George?

“It’s over here!” George says, practically bouncing on his toes. He pointed at a big book - it was one Stan was fairly familiar with, as it had a glass case over it and was on display. It was old, one of the oldest in the collection, if Stan remembered correctly. It certainly looked old, and Stan would guess it smelled old, too, if there wasn’t a clear box encasing it. Written on the front was the ancient Greek words that translated to ‘Encyclopedia of Monsters’. Stan’s curiosity was peaked, too. “What kind of monsters do you think is in it? Cyclops’? Oh! What about Harpies!” George said, rambling off a list. 

“Probably…” Stan muttered, thinking. This book was most certainly off-limits, especially for a group of teens, even if Stan was the one to ask. Even if his father was here, he was certain the man would say ‘absolutely not’. “Wait,” Stan says, brows furrowing. He tilts his head to look at George, who’s still busy naming off as many monsters as he could think of. How did he know it said ‘monsters’ on the title? Did someone else translate it? He was about to ask when a voice chimed in from behind them. 

“You nerds looking to steal that old book?” Richie says. He stood there, a tight smile on his lips, and he reeked of smoke so badly that Stan almost put a hand over his nose. 

“Oh, can you do it?” George asks, interested (because what 11 year old boy wouldn’t be interested in a heist?) 

“Of course I can! I’m basically Catwoman but _sexier._” Richie said, wiggling his brows, causing George to burst into a fit of giggles.

“No, Richie.” Stan says as Richie takes a step towards the book. “You’re not stealing this book, Richie - my dad works here.” He says sternly, Richie rolls his eyes.

“C’mon! Thievery is like, my only skill, Stan! You’re just going to deny me the opportunity to get my fingers on that old beauty-“

“Yes. That’s exactly what’s happening.” 

Richie throws his head back with a dramatic groan - way more dramatic than usual. Stan figured that he was maybe trying to make up for whatever he was mad at earlier. “Fine! Be a party pooper. But I’m taking away your ‘Man’ title until you can stop being a pussy. Now you’re just ‘Stan the’ enjoy it.” He says, pointing at Stan with his eyes narrowed before turning on his heel and wandering away. 

It was just him and George, now. Stan turned to the kid, “I’ll go ask someone if I could look at his. You should go meet up with the others.” 

George casts a look at the book, like he was trying to decide whether or not he thought the effort would be worth it. “Okay.” He says after a moment, bounding after Richie. 

It doesn’t take Stan long to find the department head for the mythology section. Stan is thankful that he knows him, at least a little bit. “You want to look at that book?” His name was Sam, Stan thought. He looks at him wearily. 

“I’m fluent in Greek - mom’s side of the family.” Stan says, trying to ease Sam into the idea and make it less weird. “We’re doing a project on ancient Greece, and, well, that books looks great.” 

“That book is written in ancient Greek, I’m not sure how much you’ll be able to understand-”

“Would you be able to flip through the book? I can’t just take pictures of the pages then if it’s easier. I won't even touch it.” Stan was a little nervous the guy was going to say no, with the way he looked at Stan, considering. 

“Alright.” He says after a moment, “Follow me.” They end up in his office, Sam brought the case over and was carefully removing it, wearing a pair of special gloves. “No flash.” Stan nodded, because duh. His dad was the head curator here, of course, he knew not to use flash on old books. 

Sam flipped through the pages with Stan taking pictures of the important ones - there was a lot of general information, information that Stan already knew or that were most likely in another book anyways. Cyclops’ filled about half the pages - turns out there were a lot of them. Then there were harpies, siren’s, merpeople - Stan thought this was a lost cause. There didn’t seem to be anything new or important in these books that he couldn’t find elsewhere - 

“Wait, stop for a second.” Sam stopped flipping the page. Stan stepped a bit closer, trying to get a better look. The title of the page is what caught his attention; written in Greek letters, and roughly translating it into English, it said, “Father of Monsters.”

Sam looked at him, impressed. “Very good. This page is about the Father of all monsters - Typhon.” Stan felt a chill run down his back. “He was the Gods’ worst enemy. Almost killed Zeus, until all of the Gods banned together to take him down - thanks to Athena and Hermes, he was locked under Mount Etna. So the legends say, anyways.” 

There was a small drawing on the top left of the page, below the title, it was worn and old, just like everything else in the book, so Stan could hardly make out any details. But from what he could see, it was of a devilish looking man with huge bat wings and snakes for feet. Lots of snakes. 

“Thanks, sir. I think we’ll be good with these.” Stan says, trying his best to put a smile on his face. 

“Certainly.” Sam replied, and then Stan left. He was planning on meeting up with the others, and telling them all what he had learned - but then he remembered the book he stashed in his waistband. He hadn’t had a chance to finish reading, not before Bill found him, anyways. So he paused around the corner, made sure he was alone and pulled out the book. 

He opened it to where he thought he had it opened before, expecting more information about the Aegis shield - instead, there was a different page. This one was titled ‘Cave of Desires’, Stan thought - it was hard to make out the last word. That alone piqued Stan’s interest. Below the title was a picture of what looked like a cave opening. And then there were only a couple of paragraphs written, but they were basically vague reports on what was said to be in the cave - apparently, if the cave deemed you worthy then you’d find what your heart sought. 

Of course, it didn’t say anything about what would happen if it found you were not worthy. 

After a moment of contemplation, Stan closed the book, tucking back into his waistband and under his jacket. Stan couldn’t help but feel like this was a test. A test to see if he truly was worthy of being Athena’s son - he remembered how months ago, Mike saved him from a giant spider. And after that, Bill saved him from the Minotaur. So far, he was 0-2, which wasn’t good odds, considering who his mother was. 

He clenched his fists, determined. If this was a test for him, he’d prove himself. Even if it costs him everything. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ben's parent is finally revealed! Shout out to pisceswench for guessing correctly! I dropped a good amount of clues, which were; he's fluent in French, which is the language of love~ his power of invisibility! In the famous Eros/Psyche myth, Eros turns invisible to prevent her from seeing him. Ben's power is not as strong as his father's, however. Charm speak! He charmed the socks off of the doorman, which could've been interpreted as a clue for Aphrodite, but his mother is a mortal and father is not one of the 12 main Olympians :) 
> 
> and uh, we got angst, friends! I wanted this chapter to include the next one as well, but that chapter will probably be the same length as this one, and I don't want to publish 20k at once lol next chapter will be action packed!! hopefully it wont be as long of a wait, school is ramping up with finals, work stuff, and i just got hit with the flu (and forced myself to finish the last two pages of this asdfg) 
> 
> Leave a comment if you're enjoying this! They really motivate me to keep on writing ;) Thanks for reading!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie faces his third trial.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a warning for canon typical violence! It's more violence than there's been in this fic before - so be aware!

Eddie was never really one for research or hanging out in libraries - honestly, the old books gave him the creeps. The idea that thousands and thousands of random, disgusting hands had touched them? It was disgusting! 

And, honestly? A little boring, too. 

Of course, he wasn’t the only one that found it hard to get anything done - he stood by Bev and Mike, mostly watching as Mike thumbed through various different books. He was smart - and obviously had a passion for research - one that Eddie didn’t necessarily understand. 

“Did you know that there are over 400 Greek Gods?” Mike says, offhandedly. 

Eddie looks up, brow raised. “Really?”

Mike nods, “Yup, and only 12 main Gods - the Olympians. Hades isn’t technically included in that number, though.” Mike says thoughtfully. Eddie furrows his brow at the last part - he wasn’t the most well-read guy, especially when it came to Greek stuff (it was all so new to him - and looking back on it, he had a feeling his mother kept him as far away from mythology as she possibly could, even going as far as throwing a terribly loud fit in protest to his 9th grade English class learning about Greek mythology).

“Why?” Eddie asks, curious. If his dad wasn’t a part of the Olympians, what did that make him?

Eddie sees Bev give Mike a look, and Mike blinks, stumbling over his words, trying to soften what he had just said. “Oh - it’s not anything bad, just that Hades and Zeus have a very… complicated relationship, that’s all.” It didn’t really reassure Eddie.

Bev places a delicate hand on his shoulder, he looks up at her, and she’s smiling gently, green eyes twinkling. Eddie sometimes wonders what the other Gods look like - and how much his friends look like them. Eddie knows he looks nothing like Hades - he thinks he might resemble his mother more than anything. But does Hera have the same green eyes and red hair? Does Hermes have a head of thick, black curls? Did Jupiter have the same unmistakable presence that Bill had? Strong but kind?

If his father and Zeus don’t get along, does that mean he won't get along with Bill?

“You’ll still be welcomed at Camp, Eddie. We’ll make sure of it.” She winks, and Eddie feels his face flush - if only because no one had ever been so sweet to him before.

The next thing they see is the door to the conference room fly open and Richie storming out, his brows furrowed and mouth downturned - Eddie had never seen Richie look so mad before, hell - he was pretty sure he’d never seen Richie mad _ ever _.

“Whoa, everything okay?” Bev asks, but Richie doesn’t stop, doesn’t even look at them.

“I need a smoke.” He mutters so quietly that Eddie almost doesn’t hear him. Eddie watches him retreat until his back disappears down the stairs. Eddie looks back at Ben, who looks like someone just told him his hamster died - a little dumbstruck and kind of like he might cry. 

Eddie goes to take a step towards the stairs, ready to go after Richie, to see what got him so mad - but Mike beats him to it. “I’ll go see what’s up.” He says, leaving no room for Eddie to argue, so he doesn’t. 

He does give Bev a _ look,_ raising a concerned brow, she purses her lips, then turns to look at Ben. “I’ve never seen Richie angry before…” she mutters. “C’mon, let’s see how Ben’s doing.” 

Ben gives them a smile, it’s strained but there. “It’s alright, guys - I… I said something I shouldn’t have.” Eddie raises a brow, what could Ben have said to have Richie react so horribly? He wants to ask, but Ben shakes his head. “I don’t think I should talk about it - no offense.” 

Eddie wants to protest, but he keeps his mouth shut. Ben is right, it’s not Eddie’s business unless Richie wants to make it, and he should respect that, even if he’s curious. 

“Alright, as long as you’re okay.” Bev says. Ben’s cheeks turn a soft shade of pink, he smiles at Bev - bright and sincere. 

“I am, thanks, Bev.” His eyes flicker to Eddie, who purses his lips, trying to contain an amused burst of laughter that threatened to spill out. Ben’s eyes go comically wide, “and, uh - thanks, Eddie.”

“No problem, Ben.” Eddie says with a grin. 

“We should take a break - what do you boys say?” Bev says, smirking. 

“_Oh thank God _ \- yes, I thought you’d never ask.” Eddie says, slumping forward. He was going a little stir crazy in the dark and dingy library. 

Bev grins at him, then nods at Ben, “what’d you say, Ben? Wanna play hooky?” 

Eddie didn’t think his face could possibly get any pinker - but he was proven wrong, “uh - yeah, okay.” He nods smiling back at her. 

“Alright.” 

Bev leads the way - they spot Bill on the way out and let him know. He gives Eddie a raised brow, but otherwise lets them go with a smile and nod.

He doesn’t see Richie on the way out, much to Eddie’s chagrin. He contemplates shooting him a text but decides against it. He doesn’t want to be clingy or make things weird. He doesn’t really know why he feels so awkward about it, but if anything he’d see Richie in their room that night.

They practically run through the rain, soaking Eddie’s new jacket. Once they made it to an overhang, blocking them from the rain, they take a minute to actually figure out where they’re going. 

Eddie looks down at the coat, grimacing.

“You don’t like your new clothes, Eddie?” Bev asks, eyeing him thoughtfully. 

Eddie shrugs, “they were a nice thought but, I dunno - makes me feel like a trust fund brat from the upper east side.” Even though technically, that’s what he was. He didn’t really feel like it, though - for the most part, his mom raised them comfortably, but she was never one to go out of her way to make them appear richer than they were - or so Eddie thought. 

“Well, I think you look handsome.” Eddie flushes at the comment, picking at one of his sleeves. “But, I see where you’re coming from. It is a lot different than what you used to wear. Oh!” Her face lights up, “How about we go shopping for some new clothes? I’m guessing you don’t have a lot packed away in that backpack, huh?”

She had a point, Eddie thought reluctantly. He really only had one change of clothes and some pajamas, when he did go home for the weekend, usually, he just used the clothes he had at home, but he didn’t even make it up to his room yesterday. He looks at Ben, who shrugs.

“Sounds fun.” Eddie was pretty sure he would’ve said that about anything Beverly suggested, but Eddie relents. 

“Alright, sure.” Bev grins devilishly, pulling out her phone and googling nearby boutiques. 

They end up at one about a block away, and man - does Beverly have an eye for fashion. Of course, Eddie kind of knew that before - she dresses really nice, but it was a different experience when she was picking out clothes for him to wear. She was precise and meticulous, pulling things off of racks and holding it up to Eddie, squinting her eyes at him while he stood there awkwardly, arms at his sides.

Eventually, she forces him into the changing room with arms full of clothes. And she chose _ well._ A combination of nice, knit sweaters and polos - “it’s called layering, Eddie. Look it up.” It’s not all black, which Eddie was thankful for (just because his dad was king of the Underworld and exclusively wore black didn’t mean he had to, right?)

By the end of their shopping trip, Eddie is exhausted, but in a good way. It was fun hanging out with Beverly and Ben, it was nice having _ friends _.

“Oh! Look at these-” Bev says in the last boutique, it was a small one, not much for Ben or Eddie, but it was nice just to look around. They walk over to what Bev’s looking at, and he’s met with a small display table of jewelry. There’s rings, necklaces and the like, but Bev has her eye on a row of bracelets. Bangels? Eddie thinks they’re called - small and thin, but metal with all different colors. “Aw, there’s a color for each of us.” Bev coos.

She’s right, of course, seven different colors - a perfect amount. “We should get everyone one, right?” Ben asks, looking at Eddie and Bev. “Like, friendship bracelets.” He smiles, and Eddie feels a tug at his heart - it was a sweet sentiment. 

“Yeah. Yeah, let’s do that.” Eddie pays for them all, of course - despite Bev trying to wrestle his wad of cash away from him, but Eddie managed to pass the money to the clerk before she could pull out her own.

“You won this round, Kaspbrak - but I’m buying dinner.”

True to her word, she does. They text the other members of their group the whole time, of course, so they’re not worried. 

“Let’s see the bracelets, I want to pick my color.” Bev picks a pretty royal blue. “For my mother - it’s her sacred color.” She says with a shy smile. She looks over to Ben, “your turn.”

He seems to contemplate for a minute, before selecting the purple one. Eddie chooses the black one - it’s instinctual. Even if he doesn’t want to wear all black, he thinks that the bracelet will be enough. 

They divvy up the rest of the bracelets by color and decide its time to head back. He felt a little bad for skipping half the day - but it was fun.

“Woah, Eddie - look.” Ben points to a t.v. screen at the that hung not too far from where they were eating. 

It was on a news station, Eddie’s heart dropped at what they were reporting. A school picture of him was displayed on the side as the news anchor spoke - the subtitles were on, thankfully, so they could read what was being said. “What the fuck.” 

Underneath his picture, in big, bold letters said “MISSING”.

_ “-was reported missing this morning, by his mother Sonia Kaspbrak. Here she is now.” _

His mother appears on screen, her hair messier than usual, her eyes wet and teary. 

_ “I picked by darling boy up from school to bring him home for the weekend, he wanted to play with his friends, so I let him of course. But he hasn’t returned since. Eddie-bear, if you’re out there - if you see this, I’m looking for you, darling, I’ll bring you home!” _

It was back on the news anchor now, giving more apparent “details” about his disappearance.

“She can’t - she can’t just fucking report me missing! And blame you guys - what is wrong with her!” He felt a mixture of embarrassment and pity - and anger. Definitely anger. What was the point of their conversation? She just didn’t get it, that’s what frustrated him. 

Bev and Ben looked at him sadly, which only made him feel worse - of course, they would offer their pity, his mom was a fucking psycho.

“We should probably go.” Bev whispers to him, leaning closer, casting a look to her right, where a couple was looking at them too intently. They left with no issues, thankfully. But he’d need to have a conversation with the rest of the group about it in the morning, which he was not looking forward to.

By the time the three of them made it back to the hotel, night had long since fallen. Ben and Bev did their best to distract him from his anger, and it worked. They practically stumbled in, giggling amongst the three of them. Eddie really hadn’t meant to be gone as long as they were - but it was fun. There was a distinct lack of tension in the air, different from the last couple of weeks. It was good. 

They bid each other goodnight when they finally made it to their hallway, Eddie gave a last big grin to Bev, who winks at him, slipping into her and Mike’s shared room, and to Ben, who smiles back sweetly, giving him a small wave, before he closes the door behind him. 

Eddie turns to his door, he can suddenly feel the weight of the bracelet in his pocket, heavier than before. But he rolls his eyes at himself, scoffing at the heavy beating in his chest. It was a _ friendship _bracelet - one that they were all going to get. He just happened to pick out the one for Richie. That was it, no big deal. 

He presses his keycard to the sensor on the door, it flashes green and Eddie pushes his way in. Eddie had a plan, see. He was going to burst in, full of energy and say something along the lines of ‘what’s up motherfucker?’ and maybe just throw the bracelet Richie’s way - but the words die in his throat. 

Richie lays there, on the bed, eyes closed, facing the door. His hair his damp, straightened out of their normal curls, probably from a shower (Eddie can’t smell the reek of cigarette smoke on him, thank God). His glasses are placed on the side table, next to his lamp, which is turned off. Eddie’s is still lit, giving the room a dim, amber glow. 

Eddie frowns, eyes flickering to the alarm clock on Richie’s side table. In big, red letters it reads ‘9:48 pm’. It wasn’t even late enough for Stan to be asleep, yet. Eddie worried his bottom lip between his teeth, watching the silent and steady rise and fall of Richie’s chest. It was weird, watching him be all peaceful and quiet. 

Eddie had half a mind to wake him up and berate him for falling asleep with wet hair, didn’t the dumbass know he could get sick that way? Then he remembers how he looked earlier - how angry he was at Ben (sweet Ben, who would never hurt a fly). It was probably best to let him sleep.

Eddie pulls the bracelet from his pocket, feeling the cool metal in between the pads of his fingers, he gently places it down beside Richie’s glasses. He’d find it in the morning. 

Eddie’s close to him, now. As close as he was last night, maybe even closer. He lifts up a hand as he gazes down at Richie, who looks so _ innocent _ and young compared to his normal, trashy and mischievous grin he wore so well. There’s a stray, damp curl hanging down in front of his closed eyes, and Eddie is _ so close _, he wants nothing more than to reach down and gently brush the strand away - but he stops himself, because what was he thinking? 

He hastily pulls his hand away, he turns towards his backpack and quickly busies himself by pulling out his pajamas. His face felt like it was on fire, how fucking stupid would he have looked of Richie had opened his eyes just then? He probably looked like some sort of weird, clingy stalker, watching his best friend sleep. 

He pauses for a moment, stilled by his own thoughts. Best friend? _ Was _ Richie his best friend? Two months ago he hadn’t ever even had one, and now? Now he was _ surrounded _by friends, friends who were like him. Who weren’t afraid of his powers and what he could do. 

Eddie bites his bottom lip, hands clutching at the soft fabric of his pajamas. As stressful and terrifying as these last two weeks had been… he wouldn’t trade them for anything. He sniffled, fighting back the wetness in his eyes, he quickly gathered the things he needed, heading into the bathroom for a quick shower - the last thing he needed was Richie to wake up to him crying over nothing, that’d be even more mortifying than if he found him watching him. 

He towel-dried his hair as best as he could, running a comb through it to try and get as much of the water out as he could. He didn’t want to risk blow-drying his hair and potentially wake up Richie - he looked so _ tired _. Once Eddie was decently satisfied with the state of his hair, he crept over to the bed and gently slid under the covers, careful not to disturb the other body. He clicked off the light, casting the room into a comfortable darkness. 

“Night Rich.” Eddie says quietly, before closing his eyes and drifting off.

The next morning Eddie blearily opened his eyes, the room is quiet, the only sound being the heavy sound of rainfall outside their window. The clock next to his bed reads 9:18 am

The storm had only gotten worse. Thankfully the New York City area had only received heavy rainfall, unlike the surrounding cities and suburbs, many of whom were considered in various states of emergency. 

It was concerning, to say the least. There was a gnawing fear in all of them, Eddie could tell that this wasn’t just nature taking its course. That there was something malicious behind it - something dangerous. It went unspoken - they had all known about Bev’s prophecy. The forewarning of a world-ending storm. It sent chills down Eddie’s spine, so he tried not thinking too hard about it. There wasn’t anything any of them could do, not without first finding a clue about what they were up against. 

The bed was empty when he finally turned over, Eddie tried to fight his disappointment. But the bracelet was gone, too.

Eddie got ready quickly, throwing on a new sweater for good measure. They decided to meet in Stan and Ben’s room that morning, instead of downstairs (he could tell the hotel staff’s patience was wearing a little thin). 

He knocks on the door when he’s finally ready, the door opens up revealing Bill, “Hey, Eddie,” he says with a tired smile.

“Hey, Bill.”

He spots Richie on the corner of the bed, his heart doing a happy little jolt at seeing the familiar indigo bracelet on his wrist.

He was greeted with a chorus of ‘hey’ and ‘good morning’, Eddie glances at Richie again, who’s picking at the edges of his fraying jeans.

“We should tell them about last night, Eddie.” Eddie blinks owlishly, looking away from Richie and at Bev.

“Oh! Oh yeah, okay - so my mom is crazy and she put out a missing persons report on me. And I’m all over the news. So, there’s that.” 

The room is silent for a moment before it bursts into a frenzy of “seriously?” and “woah are you doing okay?” and “is there anything we can do about it?”

“I’m 17 for another 6 months, so… I don’t think there’s much we can do about it.” Eddie says with a shrug.

“Do you want to go back?” Eddie snaps his head over to meet Richie’s wide eyes. He’s pretty sure it’s the first thing he’s said all morning.

“What?” Eddie asks, confused.

“I mean, if there’s not much we can -”

“That’s not what I meant,” Eddie says, interrupting, mouth frowning. “I meant that we can’t just go to the police and tell them that my mom’s a psycho and didn’t tell me my fucking dad is Hades, so pretty please take down the missing persons report I swear I’m not actually missing.” 

Richie’s shoulders sag with relief. “Oh.”

“We’ll just have to stay under the radar, keep Eddie out of sight when we have to.” Bill says, and they all agree.

It was Mike that suggested they head to the Metropolitan Museum of art - which was only about a mile away. It apparently featured many ancient Greek sculptures, and they even had a Roman section, too. They all agreed that it was a good idea - otherwise, they were trapped in their hotel rooms. It was good to take some sort of action. To keep themselves occupied and _ moving_. 

Mike drove them there, saving them all from getting drenched in the rain. 

Richie called shotgun on the way over, practically pushing Stan over in the process, running to hop into the front seat. Eddie tried not to feel hurt as he made his way to the middle row, sitting in between George and a stressed looking Bill, who had his arms crossed over his chest, practically glaring out of the window as George rambled on (maybe an octave too loudly) about whatever new game he downloaded on his phone. Eddie did his best to indulge him, because - well, the kid was maybe a little annoying, but he meant well. And Eddie was almost positive he was twice as annoying when he was George’s age, so he nodded along, giving him answers when he needed them - Stan chimed in as well, which delighted George. 

Eddie could tell that after the library George was particularly taken with Stan, much to Eddie’s amusement. Stan’s quiet contemplation and deadpan humor mixed well with George’s overeager personality - it was adorable, seeing the grin on George’s face as he started off on another tangent, basically just rambling at poor Stan, who looked over to Eddie for help, blue-grey eyes full of a mix of regret and amusement. Eddie shakes his head, shrugging. 

Instead, he nudges Bill, who peels his eyes away from the rainy city. “You okay, dude?” Eddie asks quietly, careful not to attract George’s attention away from Stan. 

Bill nods, giving Eddie a small smile. “Yeah, sorry - just tired.” His eyes flicker over to George, who’s turned around in his seat, practically leaning over it to show Stan (and by proxy, Bev and Ben who sat next to him) something on his phone. “I just forgot how much energy he has. I h-haven’t shared a room with him in a long time, he never runs out of energy.” 

Eddie winces in sympathy, Bill sounded _ exhausted _. And now that Eddie was looking a little closer, he could see dark circles forming under his blue eyes. A concerned frown pulled at Eddie’s lips, he nudges Bill with his shoulder, leaning in just a bit closer so that George couldn’t overhear. “If you ever, y’know, need a break, I can always take over for the night?” It was a tentative offer, but a genuine one. Bill was a good brother - not that Eddie had anything to compare it to, but still. He could tell that he cared about George, it was just that the kid was… a lot for just one teen to manage. 

“I couldn’t-”

“You know even the best big brothers need a break sometimes, too, right?” He said, teasingly, Bill cracked a smile, his shoulders becoming less tense. 

“I’ll think about it.” He said, simply. Eddie knew that that was the most he’d be able to get from Bill. Eddie glances up, instinctually, and he meets Richie’s eyes in the rear view mirror. Eddie’s heart skips a beat, but the eye contact lasted half a second, Richie looking away almost instantly. “Besides,” Bill speaks up, pulling Eddie’s attention away from the front seat, where he can see Richie start talking to Mike, he can’t hear what they’re saying, though - George is too loud next to them, but from what he can see Richie’s grinning big and bright, his eyes focused straight ahead now, decidedly away from the car mirror. “I don’t think Richie would be too happy about switching roommates.” 

Eddie wanted to protest - maybe he would’ve thought differently the day before, but now Richie didn’t even want to make fucking _ eye contact _ with him. Eddie instinctually goes to fiddle with his ring finger, on his right hand, frowning when he remembers that there’s no longer a ring there that he can mess with when he’s feeling anxious - so instead he crosses his arms, uncomfortable. “Richie would be fine rooming with you, Bill.” Eddie says, instead of what he was really thinking; ‘he’d probably be glad to get rid of _ me’ _because Eddie was too much of a coward to ever say how he really felt - even to Bill.

Bill frowns, “that’s not what I meant-”

“We’re here!” Mike calls from the front, turning around in his seat to look at the rest of the group. “Who’s ready for a history lesson?” 

It was packed, to say the least. Practically overrun with parents and their kids - probably desperate for the torrential downpour to be over. They explored as a pack, Ben and Mike took the lead, faces buried in a map, trying to decide which exhibit to go to first.

Mike was right - their Greek section was nothing short of _ massive_, filling practically half a floor alone, they had their work cut out for them. 

“Woah! Cool!” George says excitedly, running towards a statue - Eddie can see it coming as soon as George takes off, his shoes are somehow untied and he’s a little clumsy so it doesn’t take much for him to trip over his shoes laces (or maybe it’s over his own feet), crashing time the floor. Eddie can see Bill’s hands scrubbing over his face roughly, in what he thinks is frustration, Eddie winces. 

Eddie could feel the judgmental leering of the other guests in the room, no doubt wondering where their chaperone is. A nervous heat crawls up Eddie’s neck, he can’t help but remember the news segment from yesterday - he’s apparently a missing kid, his mom probably has about a thousand missing posters of him all over the city, he really didn’t think it was a good idea for them to become the center of attention. 

Clearly, he wasn’t the only one thinking that. Richie steps in front of him as a museum worker makes a beeline for them, his hair graying and hairline receding, he wears a hard frown like it was going out of style. Eddie is so distracted by Richie suddenly standing so close, that he misses all of what the man says.

“-we’re so sorry, sir. We’ll watch him closer.” Bill says, a step or two in front of the group. 

The man eyed him carefully, then squints behind him, at the rest of their group. Eddie ducks closer to Richie as his gaze passes over him - this guy looked like the _ exact _ type of person to watch the news 24/7. Eddie doesn’t miss with way Richie stiffens as Eddie’s fingers brush over his mid-back, so he quickly pulls away.

“This isn’t a playground.” He says, finally. Giving George one last glare, he finally turns away. 

“Of course, sir.” Bill says, before nodding the group into another, less crowded room. They all follow, Eddie making sure he keeps a proper distance from Richie, who casts him a look. 

“You okay, Eds?” It’s the first thing he’s said to him since breakfast (not that Eddie is counting the minutes), but Eddie does his best not to look too surprised, even if he was. 

“Um, yeah. Just, that guy, and the news. So.” He mentally punches himself. What kind of weird, stuttery reply was that? What, was he in second grade now? Richie purses his lips in a sort of ‘trying hard not to laugh’ way, Eddie glares at him. “Shut up. Fuck you.”

“I didn’t say anything!” Richie says, grinning, and Eddie can’t help it, he grins back, too. “You’re so _ hostile _ today, Eds. Tell me - who hurt you?” 

Eddie rolls his eyes, still smiling. “Buck up, Tozier, because I’m about to hurt _ you. _” He says, shoving Richie, who is pushed only a step away. 

“Wow, you’re about as terrifying as a kitten.” 

“Shut up-“

“Really, it’s adorable, I’m shaking in my chucks!” 

It all feels so natural. Like whatever weirdness that happened yesterday and this morning was all just a blip in the radar. Everything clicked, again. It made Eddie’s heart feel lighter.

Eddie is about to retort when he overhears Bill and George, who aren’t too far away. Bill has his hands on his hips in his, what Eddie calls, his ‘mom mode’. George scowls at the ground, arms crossed over his chest. 

“You can’t just run around, doing whatever you want.” Bill says, sternly.

“I wasn’t! I mean, I didn’t _ mean _to.” George says, grumbling. 

“You wanted to come along on this q-quest, and I was okay with it, but we’re in some serious stuff. We can’t just get kicked out of libraries and museums just because you’re bored-“

“I didn’t even do anything!” George says, throwing his arms in the air, clearly frustrated. 

Bill rolls his eyes, shaking his head. “Fine. Maybe I should just send you back to Camp-“

“What?” George shouts, eyes wide in shock. 

Bill continues, ignoring his younger brother. “That way they can look after you, there.”

“I don’t _ want _to go back by myself!” He says, stomping a foot (which probably isn’t helping convince Bill that he’s mature enough to stick around).

“It’s not up to you, Georgie.” Bill states, George looks at a loss for words, opening and closing his mouth like a fish. 

“Ugh!” He grunts, before turning on his heel and rushing past the group. 

Bill sighs, “George-“

Eddie steps forward, “I’ll go talk to him, Bill.” 

“That’s a good idea, let him cool off a bit.” Mike says, then he nods towards Bill, “you could use a few minutes to calm down, too.” Bill purses his lips but doesn’t protest. 

“We’ll catch up with you guys in a bit.” Eddie says, turning to go after George. 

Turns out George’s little legs could carry him far. It took Eddie upwards of ten minutes before he actually found the kid, who sat on a bench, alone, in a large, open room. 

The room was decorated with sculptures of all different kinds - but Eddie knew they were all Greek. He could see George staring at one in particular. It was large, and carved from marble. It featured a man with a great, big beard, with a strong brow and eyes. It was armless, as most Greek statues were, but even still, Eddie could feel his strong presence. He knew it was a statue of Zeus immediately. Technically, Zeus _ was _his uncle, which… was a weird thought. Almost as weird as remember he was the son of Death. That still needed time to sink in. 

“George?” Eddie asks, as softly as he could manage, trying not to startle the boy. 

“Hey, Eddie.” George says back, glancing over his shoulder. The anger from earlier was gone, now replaced by just a resigned sadness. It was tough to look at, especially on someone as bright as George. 

“Are you okay?” Eddie asks, sitting beside George, who shrugs, looking back at the statue of Zeus.

“He treats me like I’m such a burden - because I’m mortal, and he’s not.” He sniffs, Eddie laid a hand on the younger boy’s shoulder, hoping he felt comfortable enough to continue. “I’m not like him _ at all_, even though I try to be, and sometimes it’s like, like he doesn’t even want me around.”

“Bill doesn’t think that.” Eddie blurts out, but George doesn’t look convinced. “I’m serious, George. Bill loves you, if he didn’t he wouldn’t try so hard to make sure you were safe.”

George scoffs, shaking his head. “Ever since mom died, he’s had to take care of me. Of us. He even had to bend over backward to convince the praetors to even consider letting me stay with them.”

“Praetors?” Eddie echoed, brow furrowing. 

“Oh, they’re like the demigod leaders of the camp - kind of like army generals,” George explained.

“Oh. Well, we all do things for the people we care about - even if they are difficult or make our lives harder.” Eddie tried to explain. 

“Is that why your mom reported you missing?” Eddie stopped, blinking. It was an innocent enough question. And Eddie was sure that George didn’t mean to hurt him by asking it, but it caught him off guard. 

“She… it’s different.”

“How?” George asked, confused. 

He remembers what Persephone said. “I… I think she loves me _ too _ much.” He ends up saying, after a moment. 

“A mom can love her son too much?” Of course, George has to be the most curious kid Eddie had ever met. 

“Yeah. She wanted to keep me in a cage. Away from everyone, away from you and Bill, from Richie and - and everyone else. She didn’t want me to know who I really am.” It felt like a weight was lifted off of his chest. Like he could breathe a little easier, admitting that to _ someone _, even if that someone was an 11 year old kid. George was quiet for a moment as he sat there, professing what Eddie had said to him. “With Bill, it’s different. He wants to keep you safe, because what we’re doing is really, really dangerous. If he sends you back to Camp, it won’t be forever.”

“I know. I just want to make him proud, I guess.” 

Eddie grinned, gently knocking his shoulder against George’s. “You know any other 11-year old that’s traveling around with a bunch of demigod losers? I think you have every kid beat.” 

George grins at that, “I’m _ almost _ 12!” 

Eddie rolls his eyes, but his breath is caught in his throat. He feels a shiver run down his spine. Something was wrong. It was quiet - way too quiet for a Sunday, a mere twenty minutes ago Eddie had to dodge people to get around them, the crowd was so thick - and now? It was just him and George, in this large room. 

_ Clap. Clap. Clap. _

“Aw, that whole thing was so touching, it honestly makes me want to vomit.” Eddie’s skin crawled, he _ knew _that voice. He dreaded it for weeks back at school. He stands up as fast as he could, pulling George with him, he shoves him behind, so that Eddie was standing in front. 

Across from them stood Henry Bowers. He clapped his hands, in a mock applause, wearing a shit-eating grin, his teeth showing dangerously. 

“Stay behind me, George.” Eddie said quietly, not taking his eyes off of Henry. Saying this was bad was putting it mildly. They needed to get out of there and back to the rest of the group as quickly as possible. The problem was, Henry was standing between them and the only exit. Eddie and George had inadvertently cornered themselves in a dead-end. “What do you want?” Eddie asks, hoping his voice sounded a lot more intimidating than he thought it did. 

“The boss man isn’t happy, death boy.” Eddie held back a surprised flinch, he wasn’t expecting Henry to know who exactly he was. Henry walks forward lazily, “so I’ve been sent to retrieve you.” He pauses, stopping his advance for a moment. “Now, he said I couldn’t kill you. But he never said I couldn’t make you hurt.” Henry grins, showing his canines. There was a glint in his eye that sent Eddie’s heart racing. “And I’m going to make you hurt _ real _bad.”

* * *

Richie watched as Eddie went chasing after George, as soon as he was out of sight he looked back at Bill, who was frowning. “Sorry, guys. Didn’t mean to be such a downer.” 

“You’re not a ‘downer’, Bill. Everyone has fights with their siblings.” Bev says, placatingly. “Well. On t.v. they do - I don’t have any siblings to compare.” 

“Me neither,” Ben says, offering a smile.

“Pretty sure you’re the only one with a brother, Billiam. As far as we’re concerned, that was A plus sibling bonding you just demonstrated.” Richie replies with a smile, he gets a small one out of Bill in return. 

Mike steps forward, “c’mon, man. There’s some good Roman stuff in some rooms this way.”

“Y-yeah, okay.” 

Turns out, museums really don’t jive with any of their ADHD’s. Shocker of the century. Even with Bill explaining the Roman stuff in about as much depth as he could, Mike is the only one _ really _listening, the rest of them are distracted by whatever catches their attention. For Richie, it’s Ben. Well - not Ben, per se, but his guilt about being an asshole to Ben at the library. It had been eating at him for a while, so as soon as he could, he pulled Ben aside, stepping an appropriate distance away from the group. 

“Hey, Haystack, got a sec?” 

Ben, bless his heart, doesn’t even hesitate. “Yeah, of course.” They let the rest of their group wander a few feet in front of them, Richie can see Bev giving him one of her all knowing _ looks_, but Richie ignores her. 

“So, about the other day.” Richie starts, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, he keeps his eyes busy by looking anywhere _ but _Ben, thankfully that was pretty easy, considering they were in an art museum. 

“Richie, I’m really-“ Ben starts, but Richie hastily put up a hand, silencing him. 

“No, listen - it was really shitty of me to yell at you like that. I know it wasn’t your fault, you clearly didn’t do it on purpose. I was just, I don’t know, being an asshole. Which is kind of my default state, so.” Richie finishes with a dry chuckle, hoping to get one out of Ben, too. But instead, the other boy is just looking at him, big eyes all kind and full of understanding. It makes Richie’s stomach churn. “Um. So - sorry, I guess. Sorry is what I’m trying to say.”

Ben nods, “apology accepted.” He flashes his a small smile, which Richie tries to return. A silent moment passes over them. It’s a little awkward, Richie doesn’t exactly _ do _silence, but there’s a weight off of his chest. He feels lighter, less encumbered by guilt. “You know, I understand how you feel,” Ben says, his head turning to look at the group, but specifically at Bev, who stands next to Mike, grinning and pointing at something on a painting they’re standing in front of. 

Richie feels a hot flush creep up his neck, his stomach doing a few flips - _ oh. _He means how his feelings about Bev are the same as Richie’s toward Eddie - and, nope. Train of thought-stopping there. “It’s not - it’s not the same, Ben.” 

Ben frowns, eyes careful and considering. Richie wishes he could find an escape route - just fucking run away until he was as far away from this conversation as he could fucking get. “It’s okay, Rich.” 

Thank God he doesn’t get to finish. “Hey Mike,” Stan’s voice sounds like a song from the muses themselves. “What’s this?” Stan is on the opposite side of the room, looking at a particularly small painting. Richie makes a beeline in his direction as soon as he could, eager to get away from Ben and his stupid powers of love and whatever other bullshit. 

The painting was of a monster - a humanoid type creature with wide wings and about a couple dozen snakes where his legs should’ve been. There were images of lightning bolts behind it. 

“Typhon.” Mike says, Richie lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. 

“The father of all monsters,” Stan whispers. Mike cocks a brow,

“You know of him, too?”

Stan nods, “read about him in the library yesterday.”

“They also call him the storm giant.” Mike says, darkly. Eyeing the painting wearily.

“Who?” Bev asks, looking at Mike and Stan.

“Typhon, he’s basically a legendary asshole. Fought the Gods almost as long as they fought the Titans.” Mike explains. “He’s their greatest enemy - sealed away in Mount Etna.”

“He’s still there, right?” Richie asks. 

Mike shrugs, “well, technically Mount Etna isn’t the same anymore, not since Olympus moved to the States, anyways.”

“So, he’s imprisoned in a different mountain here?” Ben asks. 

“Wait.” Bev says, she’s staring at the floor, her green eyes narrowed in thought. “In my vision, I was on a mountain. And then it erupted…”

Richie felt his heart drop, following where Bev was going with it. He looked back at the painting, at the winged man, with snakes for legs. Almost always Richie found ancient Greek renditions of monsters a little underwhelming compared to the real thing. If Typhon looked anywhere near how he did on paper, they so fucked. 

“Mount Helen.” Stan says, grimly. “Mount Helen is the same as Mt. Etna, they were both active volcanoes.”

“Mount Helen erupted years ago, though.” Ben says, brow furrowed in thought. “In your vision, Beverly, didn’t-“

“Yeah,” she says, looking rattled. “I was on a mountain when it erupted, I thought I’d burn to death in the lava.”

“So, you guys think that Mount Helen erupting was, what? This Typhon guy escaping his prison?” Richie says, laughing in disbelief. “If the Gods put him there, how could he just escape? And _ now _of all times?”

“Richie’s right. This is all just theory.” Stan says, crossing his arms. Bev shakes her head,

“You didn’t see what I saw,” her eyes are wide and earnest, but she looks rattled. Like she just saw a ghost. She glances back at the painting. “If _ he’s _the one we have to face, then we have to be prepared.”

“If he’s the one we have to face, we’re all as good as dead,” Stan says back, Bev flinches, shocked at his blunt reply. Stan purses his lips, looking away from the group. “I’ve done my research. This guy isn’t a joke - Zeus almost died trying to fight him! What chance do we have?” 

There was a blanket of tension over the group, now. Richie wanted to crack a joke, but his tongue was tied. The thing was - Stan wasn’t _ wrong _. 

“The prophecy says that if we're united, we’ll win,” Bill says softly, taking a step closer to Stan. Stan stares at him, grey-blue eyes narrowed, like he wanted to argue, but he doesn’t. Instead, he nods, after a moment. 

“Sorry.” Stan says, looking around the group. “This is just - it’s a lot.” 

“We get it, man.” Mike says, clapping a hand on his shoulder. “But Bill and Beverly are right - we need to stay united and together.”

“Speaking of - should we go find Eddie and the kid?” Richie asks, suddenly a little worried. It’d been a while since Eddie went off to find him. 

“Good idea.” Bill says, nodding toward him. 

“You’re not going anywhere.” A voice says, suddenly. The group startles, everyone going on high alert. Richie’s hand goes up and grasps the charm that hung around his neck, ready to pull it off if he had to. 

Standing not far was a familiar figure. 

A Lycaon, his caws sharp and pointed, he was covered in dark, matted fur, his eyes glowed a sinister red, glinting with evil. Victor Criss, Richie remembered, although instead of seeing him, he saw his true, fur-covered form.

“Ready to die, losers?” He snarls out.

Richie laughs, “buddy - I know numbers aren’t your strong suit, considering you’re like an animal, and all - but we have you outnumbered _ six _to one.”

As if on queue, Criss points his muzzle up and lets out a loud _ howl _, it was loud and grating on their ears - so loud that Richie winces, bringing up his hands to cup around his ears, trying to protect them from the loud noise.

Then there was the sound of claws on tile, an ominous scraping - multiplied by a hundred. More lycans came running in on all fours, instead of on their two hind legs, like their leader. There had to be dozens of them, filling the space. 

“You just had to open your big mouth, didn’t you?” Stan whispers, staring at the crowd of Lycans with wide, terrified eyes. 

Richie audibly gulped. They were maybe in some trouble. 

-

Eddie knew that they had to get away. He had to find some way out that door and back to his friends - fighting Bowers was way too much of a risk, _ especially _with mortal George in the mix. 

His first instinct was to look for shadows to travel through - he’d never traveled with someone else before, let alone a mortal, but it wasn’t the worst idea, considering a psychopath stood only a couple dozen yards away from them. The problem was, was that the museum was stupidly well lite - there were hardly any shadows, let alone ones big or dark enough for Eddie to actually get anywhere with. 

Alright, plan two. 

What was plan two? 

Henry pulled out a wicked looking dagger - its long, bronze blade glinted devilishly in the light. 

Eddie reaches up, grabbing his earring he pulls it off, it grows longer and heavier in his hand, it’s black metal as dark as nightmares. 

He could see Henry’s eyes narrow, lips pulling up in a snarl. “Don’t think you’re hot shit just because your daddy gave you a present, Kaspbrak. I doubt you even know how to use that thing.” He growled out.

Eddie didn’t know what took over him, but he said: “why don’t you come and see for yourself?” Suddenly emboldened. He _ needed _ to protect George. He _ needed _to get away from Bowers. And maybe he couldn’t use his spear as well as Henry could use his dagger, but Eddie was confident that he could at least outsmart him. 

Henry took the bait, running forward. “George, go!” Eddie tells out, he can hear the sound of his sneakers hitting the tile, he hopes the kid listens to him, but he doesn’t have any time to check, Henry is _ fast _ not as fast as Richie, but faster than Bill. 

He aims the dagger for Eddie’s neck, and Eddie instinctually raises his spear to block the attack. Metal sparks against metal as Henry pushes down and Eddie holds both hands on his weapon, pushing back up desperately. Somehow, Eddie manages to push Henry away for a moment, he staggers back. 

But Henry is quick and methodical, he slashed downward at Eddie, who ducks, rolling to Henry’s right - he wasn’t expecting Eddie to be that good, he has the advantage, Eddie brings the blunt end of his spear into Henry’s knee, and he buckles, growling out in a mixture of pain and anger, Eddie guesses. 

He falls to one knee, Eddie backs up a few paces, pointing the blade of his spear at him, wearing his best glare. “So your little Greek friends taught you some tricks, death boy, don’t get cocky.”

“Oh, I heard all about you, Bowers.” Eddie says, watching Henry wearily as he stands up. “See - you’re not the only Roman I know.” His brow furrows, “Bill told us that you got kicked out of Camp - what kind of _ dumbass _ gets kicked out of _ camp_?” Eddie taunts, he can’t help himself. He gleefully watches as a pink flush travels up Henry’s neck and to his face, turning it a bright red. 

“Shut your _ fucking _mouth.” And he’s charging at Eddie again, this time his blows are stronger, less precise, but more brutal. He had at least a foot on Eddie, and probably a good 50 lbs of muscle. Somehow, Eddie was able to keep up, but he was forced to stay on the defensive, not wanting to get cut by Henry’s dagger. 

He could tell it was frustrating Henry, that he wasn’t dominating the fight like he clearly thought he was going to. Their weapons smashed into each other again, Henry pushed all of his weight onto Eddie, who was struggling to hold him back, but Eddie refused to give in. 

Then, Henry grinned - it was an evil, twisted thing. Showed too much of his teeth, was too sharp at the edges. Eddie wasn’t expecting the kick to the stomach (he blamed himself for that, of course, and asshole like Bowers would fight dirty). Eddie stumbles back, gasping for the breath that abandoned his lungs. Henry was still grinning when he brought his fist into Eddie’s right cheek, with a resounding _ crack _, Eddie helplessly stumbles to the floor, clutching his bruised ribs. He must have bit his tongue when Henry punched him, as his mouth fills with the disgusting metallic taste of blood.

“Eddie!” He can vaguely hear George cry from somewhere behind him, but his head is still ringing from the punch, and he’s disoriented. Fuck, he could really use some kind of miracle right about now.

“All you halfbloods are the same.” Henry spits out, “weak. Pathetic. If it were up to me, I’d kill you now. Put you out of your own misery.” 

Eddie is about to retort, a nasty reply on the tip of his bloody tongue, but he feels something. Like, a rumbling on the floor - almost like heavy footsteps, coming their way. 

“What? Nothing to say, death boy? I think we still have time to play - what the fuck!” Henry is as surprised as he is when a giant skeleton bursts into the room - Eddie isn’t an expert on bones, they always grossed him out too much for him to have any sort of interest, but he thinks they might be an elephant? Or maybe some sort of fossilized dinosaur - he couldn’t tell, point was - it was fucking huge and terrifying, and running towards them. 

Eddie scrambles backward, like a crab, trying to get out of its way, but it’s eyeless sockets are locked onto Bowers, who stumbles back, dagger raised. It steps in front of Eddie and lets out a deep and guttural _ roar, _it was so loud that the room shook. 

“C’mon!” George says. He’s suddenly by Eddie’s side, pulling him up to his feet. Eddie’s snapped out of his daze, he casts one more look at the giant skeleton, who raises an arm, preparing to strike Bowers.

“Let’s go!” Eddie takes the lead, holding onto George’s wrist as they sprint towards the door. They make it, but Eddie doesn’t stop, they keep running until they reach a fork, so they pause and catch their breath. “That was…” Eddie starts. 

_“So cool _!” George yells, throwing his arms into the air with an excited grin. 

“I was going to say disgusting,” Eddie replies.

“You have the coolest powers _ ever_!” 

Eddie makes a face, considering. “You think I did that?” He asks, wondering.

“Duh! Know anyone else who’s father happens to be king of the dead?” George says sarcastically, Eddie rolls his eyes, shoving George lightly.

“Alright, alright - I get it. It was very cool. Now we have to get back to the others, I don’t know how long that - that thing can hold Bowers off.”

Now if only they knew which way to go. Eddie bit his lip, he couldn’t remember which way they came from, and he was pretty sure he and George weren’t exactly retracing their steps when they were running away just now. “Left?” George says, pointing down a hallway. 

-

They _ might _ have been in a little trouble. But Bill, in all of his Roman ways, steps forwards, brows drawn forward, summoning his greatsword. “Ben, stay in the middle, everyone fan out.” They all did what he said - Richie didn’t even question it, maybe it was being the son of Jupiter, but Bill had _ authority _to his voice. The rest of them called out their weapons, too. 

Criss lifted his muzzle once more, howling and the rest of the lycans took off, running on all four at them. Bill met them halfway, sword raised in front of him - he swung as the wolf came closer - and his sword went right through it. 

“What the _ fuck!_” Richie shouted, alarmed. That wasn’t supposed to happen. Bill was supposed to cut the mangy mutt clean in two, but his sword went through it like it would a mortal. He could tell Bill was just as stunned, thankfully he recovered quickly. The lycan raised a paw, swiping at Bill, but Bill easily drew back, avoiding the attack. 

“I d-don’t know what happened.” Bill says, glancing back and Bev and Richie, who are flanking him from both sides. 

“What the hell is your sword made out of?” Richie asks, bracing himself as the wolves started towards them.

“Imperial gold! It’s always worked on monsters before!”

“We don’t have time to argue about this right now, look alive!” Mike calls, he has his bow out, quiver hanging on his belt full of arrows. Next to him Stan holds up his shield a little higher, honestly looking like he was going to pass out - and Ben stood in the middle, weaponless. They really should’ve found him a dagger or something - but hindsight is 20/20 and all that. 

In no time, a wolf is in Richie’s face, swiping a sharp claw at him. Richie ducks, then kicks at it, his foot connects with its chest, it yelps as its pushed back. Richie then arcs his sword down, aiming for it’s neck - and it passes right through, not even fazing the fucking thing. “What the fuck!” 

“Why can’t we hurt them?” He can hear Bev shout, and from his periphery he can see her wrestling with a wolf, her short spear wedged into its mouth.

The lycan in front of Richie recovers quickly, rearing back with its fangs bared, they were a gross, slimy yellow but he was pretty sure it’d hurt like a motherfucker. Richie kicks off the ground, flying into the air, just barely dodging the monster. “What the hell do we do?” Richie calls to the group,

“Close your eyes!” He hears Mike, 

“What?!” Stan yells back, shoving at a lycan with his shield.

“Trust me!” Mike shouts back, and Richie does. He assumes the rest of the group follows suit. He can vaguely hear Mike notching an arrow and letting it loose - even with his eyes closed Richie can see a bright white blossom and explode. He reopens his eyes after a moment, grinning when he sees most of the lycans squeezing their eyes shut, blinded. 

“Nice one, Mikey!” Richie yells with a grin.

Mike smiles back, notching another arrow. “Thanks, Rich.”

“Stand back!” Bill yells this time, outstretching his left arm, his brows furrowed. Richie flies back a few feet. Richie can feel a wave a static flow through the air, his arm hair standing on their ends. A bolt of lightning crashes down, striking three or four lycans. 

“Mm, crispy.” Richie says, grimacing at the smell of charred flesh. 

They weren’t out of the woods yet. At least a dozen lycans still stood strong, not to mention their leader - Criss, was still observing. He looked nonplussed, unfazed by the bolt of lightning Bill called down. 

Bill, however, seemed _ exhausted _ \- a sheer sheen of sweat covered his brow, and Richie could see the quick rise and fall of his chest as he panted for air. There was no way that Bill could use his lightning powers anytime soon, lest he wanted to keel over. 

“Imperial gold and celestial bronze don’t work against these guys, so what do we do?” Bev asks, holding her short spear in front of her. 

What _ could _they do? Short of frying them all with bolts of lightning, Richie was at a loss. 

“Does anyone have silver?” Ben asks, and it’s like a lightbulb went off in the rest of their minds. Ben shrugs, “it works in the movies, right? The only way to kill a werewolf is with silver.”

“These aren’t werewolves, though - they’re lycans.” Stan says and Richie rolls his eyes,

“Is there really a difference?” 

Stan looks up at him with a glare, “yeah, otherwise we wouldn’t call them lycans! All I’m saying is that we shouldn’t put all our eggs in one basket. We can still _ try _silver. Not that I know where we’re going to get some…” Stan muttered the last part and Richie fought the instinct to retort Stan’s skepticism. But he did have a point - where were they going to get silver?

“That sculpture! Richie -” Bev yells - and Richie sees what she’s talking about - on the other side of the room is a horrid looking metal sculpture - really, it’s fucking hideous, who made art nowadays, anyway? No taste. But it was sharp, and just what they needed.

“On it!” Richie yells, making a beeline to the thing. He can see Mike firing off more arrows, his aim as good as ever, but they aren’t doing much more than slowing the wolves down. 

Wolves try and intercept him, but Richie is a pro at flying - dodging is no problem, at this point. He reaches the sculpture in no time at all - thankfully it’s uncovered, Richie reaches down, trying to avoid landing, he can already see a few wolves headed his way. He grabs at it with his left hand, his other busy with his sword. 

He grunts as he lifts it, the fucker was heavy, at least 25 pounds, the wings on his shoes flutter into overdrive to make up for the extra weight. 

“Think you can handle this, Haystack?” The guy was built like a brick house, Richie had no doubt he could put the silver to good use. 

Ben nods, holding his arms out. “Drop it here, Rich!” 

“Bombs away!” Although it was less of a drop and more of a baton-pass. Ben rushes forward, surprising Richie in his bravery, right past Stan, who was fending off some solves with his shield - Ben thrusts the pointed end forward, yelling out with effort. The dumb dog never saw it coming. It yelps out in pain, it’s glowing red eyes flickering until the red fades, and the lycan begins to fade to dust. “Hell yeah! That’s what I’m talking about, Haystack!” Richie cheered as the lycans backed up, more weary now that they had some means to defeat them. 

“Who wants some more!” Ben yells out, boldly. Richie grins, cackling in delight - who knew that Ben would be such a Spartan?

-

Eddie nods, “left it is.” They take off again, this time speed walking, Eddie walks ahead, making sure that the coast is clear, his sweaty hands gripping onto his spear so tightly that his knuckles turn white. The halls were agonizingly empty, like literally everyone had vanished. There was no blending into the crowd this time. He just hoped that his friends were somewhere close.

Eddie crept around a corner, spear raised in front of him. He sticks his head out slowly and cautiously, terrified of what he might see.

Another empty room, save for the art and sculptures that decorated the walls. He deflates, the worried tension draining from him. “Maybe we should hole up here for a minute, I can text one of the guys.” Which, really - they should’ve done that minutes ago, but he was preoccupied with the whole ‘running for their lives’ thing that it slipped his mind. 

And if things really went to hell, he still had the pouch of Persephone’s seeds. He and George could escape - but what about his friends? He shook his head, dismissing the idea. They’d find each other, they always did. It was going to be fine. 

“Mmph-!” He hears the sound too late. “Eddie - look out!” He hears George cry out, but Eddie wasn’t paying attention to him like he should’ve been. He snaps around, eyes wide and adrenaline thick in his veins. George is being held by a very large and scary-looking wolfman - a literal werewolf, with gross, matted fur and glowing, demonic red eyes. George is less than half the monster’s size, though he’s squirming and struggling, trying to dodge the monsters claw that is unsuccessfully attempting to cover his mouth. 

Eddie’s heart drops, he was paying too much attention to what was ahead of them and not enough to George, who stood _ behind _him. 

But that’s not what George was warning him about. 

Henry’s in front of him in an instant, there’s a bruise forming on his cheek, and his clothes are a little torn, but otherwise, he seemed to have escaped the dinosaur relatively harm-free, much to Eddie’s dismay. 

And he looked _ pissed._

Eddie has barely any time at all to lift up his spear as Henry slashes down at him with his dagger. Eddie stumbles backward into the next room, but Henry is already on top of him, raising his dagger and hitting down so hard that when Eddie blocks it, he can feel the strike in his arms.

“Let’s see some more of your dirty fucking magic tricks now!” Henry yells, not relenting. It takes all Eddie has to continue to block the strikes, which are fast and hard - pushing him back further and further away from George - Eddie spares him a glance, eyes flickering just past Henry’s shoulder to where he still struggles against the werewolf -

What was Eddie supposed to do? Bowers was just toying with him now, and George was mortal, that wolf could easily kill the kid if it wanted to - 

He was too distracted, Henry saw an opening and he took it, his blade slashing a shallow cut against Eddie’s fingers. Eddie winces in pain, instinctively loosening his grip, and on the next strike, the spear was knocked out of his grasp, clattering helplessly across the smooth, white tiles.

Eddie glanced down at his fingers, glad to see they were still attached, but just a little nauseous at the sight of his own blood pouring out of the thin wound - a bright scarlet color, that dripped to the floor.

“_Fu__cking weak _ .” Henry spat out, lip curling at the corner. He kicks at Eddie, who brings up his arms just in time to soften the blow, but Henry is _ strong _\- a lot stronger than Eddie is. Maybe it was a perk of being the son of the God of war, or maybe Eddie really was just weak. 

Eddie practically goes flying into a display case, the glass shatters around him at the impact and Eddie’s on the floor, wincing at the glass cutting into his skin. 

“Eddie!” George screams out. 

“Shut him the fuck up!” Henry yells back. The wolfman holds up a sharp claw and Eddie is terrified of what he plans to do with it. Eddie sits up as fast as he can, ignoring the stinging pain of glass shards digging into the palms of his hands. 

“Wait - don’t hurt him!” Eddie shouts out, watching with wide eyes as the wolf pauses, looking at Henry. 

Henry looks down at Eddie, a glint of something sinister in his eyes. 

Eddie takes a moment to consider - they clearly want him. George is a mortal - he’s absolutely worthless to Henry and his goons, but how could he get them out of this? He eyes the distance between him and George, they weren’t so far away, the room wasn’t especially large, thank fuck. But with Henry standing in the way, and the wolf holding George’s life in its claws? There was no way in hell he’d make it over there in time. Unless… he looks to his left, and sure enough, there’s a big shadow being cast by the podium of the glass case he fell into - one large enough for him to travel through, and on the other side, the door frame at the entrance of the room was also casting a shadow, one right behind George and the werewolf. 

“You guys are after me, right? Just - just let him go. Please.” Eddie says, a last-ditch effort. 

Henry looks at him and laughs, it’s a short, twisted thing - too loud and abrupt, Eddie flinches, despite himself. “Sorry, death boy - boss man requested _ both _ of you.” Eddie’s brow furrows, why would who-ever Bowers was working for want a normal, human kid? Eddie understood his appeal - his friends had explained that being a child of the big three came with a lot more power than some of the other Gods, and touche, he could do some pretty cool stuff - but George? He was _ normal._

Eddie had to get him out of here. The weight of Persephone’s gift grounded him, reminding him that he had a place to go - that he could make sure George was safe. He steeled himself, taking in a deep breath and concentrating, he needed a clear and level head with none of the adrenaline that could fule mistakes. 

Henry speaks again, lazily pointing the dagger down at Eddie. “Now, we have -” it was now or never.

Eddie rolls sideways and into the shadow, darkness engulfing him. He gets to his feet quickly, sprinting as fast as he can to his exit - he needed to get George as quick as he could before they could be any more on guard than they already were. 

He sees his exit, a one-way mirror, he could see the wolf looking around, Henry far back, on the other side of the room, shouting something that Eddie couldn’t hear. His spear was still on the ground, Eddie realized belatedly, but it didn’t matter.

He bursts through the shadow, behind the werewolf. Eddie holds out his palm instinctively, aiming at the wolves back - black fire sprouts from the motion, not a lot - the flames were maybe little more than 4 or 5 feet in diameter, but it was enough for the wolf to cry out in pain, it’s back ignited in black fire. The monster drops George, who stumbles forward. And he’s _ so close _ \- just a few more steps and he could reach him. His right hand is outstretched, while the other digs in his pocket, pulling out two, small pomegranate seeds - 

A white hot pain blooms from his left leg, and he stumbles, falling onto his knee. 

“Eddie!” George yells, his eyes wide and terrified, looking down at Eddie’s leg. Eddie’s stumble gives enough time for the wolf to recover, scooping up George in it’s big, furry arms it carries him away, running. Eddie gets up, but yelps at the flash of sharp pain, and he stumbles again, his palms smearing the white tile beneath him with blood. 

He grits his teeth, fighting back a whimper as he looks down at his leg - embedded about three or four inches in his lower calf is Henry’s dagger, the silver glints maliciously, as if mocking him; ‘nice try, loser’. Up close, he can see words engraved on the blade of the weapon; ‘Non ducor duco’ it read - Latin, of course. Romans loved Latin. 

He hears footsteps approaching - the hard ‘thump, thump’ of Bowers’ combat boots against the floor beneath him. He stops less than a foot away from Eddie, grinning something evil. He leans down, and Eddie closes his eyes tight, his heart clenching in terror. He grits his teeth, grunting as he feels the dagger being pulled out of his leg. Eddie slowly opens his eyes, Henry’s squatted in front of him, holding his dagger close to his face as if admiring the way Eddie’s blood looks on the metal. 

“You’re going to pay for that stunt, you little shit.” He sounds oddly calm, like he _ knows _he’s won. And Eddie supposes he did. What else was he to do? Short of his friends conveniently coming to help him, he was fucked. Henry looks him in the eye, his grin toothy. He holds the dagger so close to Eddie’s face that he can feel the cool metal slip across his cheek - Eddie jerks away. 

Henry grabs his cheeks, holding tightly so Eddie isn’t able to pull away, he leans in close - Eddie can smell the stench of his breath. “No offense, dude - but do you floss?” He doesn’t know where this sudden bravery is coming from. Richie’s grinning face flashes in his mind, thick frames and a grin so wide it could brighten up even the darkest of rooms. Richie would say something like that if he was in Eddie’s situation - maybe that’s why he said it. “Because, from here - I can’t even tell if you brush your teeth-” Eddie watches gleefully as Henry’s face contorts in anger, gripping Eddie’s face so hard that his nails dig in painfully. Then Henry lets go, standing up.

Eddie feels a mix of relief and confusion, but it’s short-lived. Henry’s behind him, pushing Eddie to the ground with a firm knee in the middle of his back and gripping his right arm painfully tight. Eddie wriggles, trying to get free - but their size difference is more apparent than ever. 

“Get off of him!” He can hear George yell in the distance, but Eddie can’t see anything but the floor as he grunts, trying to get free of Bowers’ iron tight gripe. 

“Shut him up!” His yell is bellowing, and Eddie doesn’t hear another sound from George.

“What did you do to him?” Eddie shouts, but Henry pushes his head roughly against the cool tile. 

“Greek demigods are all so weak - it’s _ pathetic_.” His grip on his forearm tightens, and Eddie gasps silently through the pain - understanding what Bowers was going to do. “I told you I was going to teach you a lesson, fucker.” Bowers says, leaning in close. Eddie can’t squirm or wriggle anymore, afraid of hurting his own arm further. Bowers pulls and squeezes and it’s _ agony _\- the most painful thing Eddie has ever experienced - he grits his teeth, trying not to yell out - he wouldn’t give Henry the satisfaction. 

Then there’s a _ snap_, audible and gut-churning - he’s numb for a sliver of a second before a searing white hot pain bursts through his arm. It’s suffocating, almost - and Eddie can’t hold it back - he screams, _ guttural _ and _ raw _, but he refuses to cry - holding back the tears that threaten to spill over, he can hear Henry laughing gleefully behind him, ecstatic. 

Eddie slumps forward, the world going fuzzy at the edges. 

Henry whistles. “This is what you’re planning, huh?” Eddie can’t bring himself to look up, exhausted and drained and in so, so much pain. He nearly cries when dozens of familiar pomegranate seeds are dropped in front of him, clattering to the ground - Henry stomps on them, flattening his lifeline - his first _ real _gift. “Hey! Get over here!” He must’ve been yelling at the werewolf, but Eddie isn’t paying attention, his world woozy and shallow.

A small pomegranate seed rolls to a stop in front of him, just in reach of his only functional hand. A sign from the Gods - from Persephone, he thinks. He glances up - as far as he can see, Henry isn’t looking at him - distracted by the wolf. Eddie reaches forward as quickly as he can, it’s painful but doable. He closes his fist around the seed just as Henry looks back at him. 

“You ready to meet the boss, death boy?” He says, grabbing a fist full of the back of Eddie’s shirt and lifting him, Eddie can’t help but whimper at the pain of his right arm moving, it’s all so much but Eddie takes the opportunity to slip the seed into his pocket - then he blacks out.

-

There’s only a few wolves left when they perk their heads up, hearing a sound that only they could hear. Somehow, in the fight, Criss had escaped, leaving his lackeys to for them to finish off. 

But then they started retreating. Heading out the door as quick as lightning, none of them had enough time (or enough energy) to react.

“Is everyone okay?” Bill says, looking over the group. They were all sweaty messes, Richie was sure he looked like absolute shit - but there were no injuries, everyone was unharmed.

Richie blinked, suddenly alarmed. “Wait - Eddie and George.” He looked at Bill, who looked back at him with wide eyes, and they all took off running after the lycans, even though they were long gone. 

They must’ve been fighting the lycans for close to thirty minutes. Richie tried not to jump to conclusions, reminding himself that Eddie was smart and resourceful - even if he and George ran into some wolves, they’d be fine. He had a stygian iron spear with him - the most powerful metal in the world. He’d be _ fine _. 

But there was a voice in the back of his mind that said him over and over again;

“Where the hell are they?” Richie asks, trying not to panic as they run through more and more rooms, all empty. No signs of Eddie or George. 

There’s a startled gasp from Bev, Richie turns around, his throat clenching up. She’s staring into a room, hand covering her mouth. Richie is there in an instant - and he almost throws up. 

There’s blood and glass _ everywhere _. 

Not too far in front of him, there was a bloody handprint. Richie knelt down, slowly and carefully - not even letting himself breathe. He held out his own left hand, hovering it above the print. 

It was Eddie’s. He was sure it was - it was fucking _ tiny _. So where the fuck was he?

“T-t-t-that’s -” He can hear Bill behind him, stuttering so hard he can barely get the word out. 

_ ‘The son of Death remains untold, _

_ Three trials he cannot face alone.’ _

“The fucking prophecy…” Richie whispers, his voice cracking. “We left him _ alone_! God damn it!” He yells, running his hands through his hair. How could they be so stupid? It was right in front of them, the whole time - a big, flashing neon sign - and they fucking did it anyway.

“Breath, Rich.” Beverly is next to him, hand on his shoulder. 

He looks at her, eyes wet behind his thick rims. “He’s - he’s _ gone_, Bev - what are we supposed to do?” They didn’t even know if he was alive, or not - god, there was so much _ blood._

“W-w-w-w-” Bill sucks in a large, shaky breath. He looks pale, paler than he should - but of course he does, Eddie is his friend, too. And _ George _\- fuck. George could be hurt, too. 

“We’ll find them, Bill.” Stan is next to him, and Bill looks over, so unsure, so terrified. 

From the corner of his eye, Richie see's a glint of something among the glass, he's feet take him to it, as if moving on their own. He tries to ignore the spots of smeared blood dotted amid the sharp glass. Then he see's it. He reaches a hand carefully down, plucking the familiar black earring out of the glass. He breaths out a shaky breath that he didn't know he was holding. Eddie's earring. His spear. He wraps his fingers around the piece of cold metal.

They would find them - Richie would make sure of it. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the lateness of this chapter! I got pneumonia, had about a million school projects to do, but I hope the nearly 30 pages makes up for the wait :) It's a chapter I've been wanting to write for a long time!
> 
> We're solving more prophecy stuff! And we're getting deeper into arc 2, this is where the angst comes into play folks
> 
> Please leave a comment if you can!
> 
> And as a reminder, here are the prophecies: 
> 
> Beverly's prophecy:  
“The son of Death, remains untold,  
Three trials he cannot face alone.  
The martyred son of Mars makes his last stand,  
Only to fall to the tricksters hand.  
Seven united or die as one,  
To defeat the evil that claims its won.  
Sky and Earth together fight better,  
To defeat Earth’s last storm forever.”
> 
> Bill's prophecy:  
"You shall travel into lands unknown,  
to find the one whom Death’s bell toll.  
An endless maze you must traverse,  
to be apart would be adverse.  
With wisdoms help you’ll stay alive,  
to find an enemy whose death you strive.  
But distraction will spell disaster,  
as ones love is gone here after."


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Richie has an idea, Eddie makes a plan.

Guilt. 

Unbridled, all-encompassing guilt is what he felt. He had one fucking job - just one! And he managed to fuck even that up. His father was probably looking down on him from Olympus in shame - Richie wouldn’t blame him. And below him? Richie shudders to think of what Hades is going to do to him, knowing that Richie lost his dear son.

And Eddie - oh, poor Eddie. Was he okay? Was he hurt - of course he was hurt, Richie saw the blood. Was he alive? The thought churned Richie’s empty stomach, he could feel the bile rise up into his throat despite his protests. He leaned over from his spot next to the toilet, ducking his head down to dry heave. 

He really shouldn’t be thinking like that - like Eddie was - wasn’t. But he couldn’t help it, he wasn’t like Beverly, who frowned at him with such gentle concern, Richie could tell she wanted to be in there with him, despite the constant throw up, but Richie locked her out as soon as he got back to their (Eddie’s) room. 

He sighed deeply once his dry heaving attack stopped. His mouth tasted disgusting - which, duh. Bile wasn’t supposed to taste like cotton candy and gumdrops. 

If Eddie were here right now he’d be cursing him out for not brushing his teeth after every episode, the tyrant. 

But he wasn’t here. And it was Richie’s fault. 

Richie waited for half a second, waiting to see if his stomach would betray him at the thought of his lost friend. But nothing. His body must have given up, good. He pulls himself to his feet, leaning over the porcelain sink, he turns on the faucet, letting the water run cold. Scooping his hands under the running water, he lets them fill with liquid before bending forward and sipping from the supply. 

He doesn’t drink it, because ew. But he swishes it in his mouth for a minute before spitting it out and repeating a couple of times. He can’t bring himself to actually brush his teeth - sue him, Eddie isn’t here to reprimand him, anyways. It was good enough.

There’s a soft knock on the door, “Richie?” Beverly, of course. She left him alone for the better part of an hour, probably trying to console Bill. 

Another pang in his chest. 

Of course - Richie wasn’t the only person who lost somebody. Far from it - they all lost Eddie, Eddie wasn’t just Richie’s to mourn or worry. And Bill. Poor Bill, he was a wreck last Richie saw him. Of course he was, he lost his only brother. 

His lips twist in a grimace, as he turns the faucet off, looking at his reflection in the mirror. He looked like shit - and that was mostly because of the werewolf fight they had no too long ago. His clothes were torn, he had a good amount of scratches on his face, and now that the adrenaline was wearing off, he could feel the bruises and scrapes along his body.

Too bad they weren’t prepared enough to have brought along any ambrosia, Richie would kill for even a lick of the stuff. 

Another knock on the door, this time louder, “Rich?” 

Richie breathes out another sigh, his eyes were rimmed with bright ugly red, dark bags forming already. He winces at his reflection, turning his eyes away and back down at the sink. Rubbing a still damp hand over his sad, tired-looking face. “Yeah, Bev, just - just a sec.” He couldn’t keep her waiting. He knew she was half liable to break down the door with her bare hands (she was too strong for her own good).

Richie puts his glasses back on, grateful that they took up half of his face. He opens the door, doing his best impression of a totally not manic-stressed-guilty boy who just lost his best friend, or the closest thing he’s had to it. 

He swings it open and is face to face with Bev, who’s green eyes are lined with a similar shade of red. They flicker up to Richie’s face, and she pauses for a moment, like she’s taking him in. Analyzing how he looked, or something. Richie looks away, something swelling in his throat. He so badly wants to close the door again, to beg her to let him wallow in his misery - it was his fault, after all. He deserved some sort of punishment - not kindness. 

“See, I’m still alive -” he holds his wrists up, “didn’t off myself yet, Bev.” It’s a tasteless joke, he knows that, but when has he ever been known for his taste? 

Beverly rolls her eyes, gently taking his arms and pushing them down to his side, not letting go. “I know that dummy, I just wanted to see how you were doing.” 

It’s so sincere that Richie wants to cry again.

He swallows hard, blinking as fast as he can to make the tears vanish. 

“I’m just peachy, Ms. Marsh! I do thank you for checking in on this ol’ lad!” The old English voice does exactly what he wants it to - deflects the attention off of how he’s actually feeling. The accent is too exaggerated, too fake. He’s not feeling the comedy, but what else does he have? Beverly rolls her eyes again, but there’s a smile, pulling on the corner of her lips. 

“Alright. Well, whenever you’re feeling up to it we’re going to have a team meeting, to see where we’re at and what we need to do.” Beverly says and Richie nods, stepping out of the bathroom. 

“Uh, yeah - okay. I can go right now -”

Beverly winces, “you sure you don’t want to clean up first?” she says, looking him up and down. 

Richie gasps loud and obnoxious, clutching at his chest. “How dare you! These are my finest clothes!” 

Beverly scoffs, “I sincerely hope not. You look worse than homeless right now, Tozier.” 

“Wounded. I’m hurt right now.” 

Another soft smile, Richie looks away. “Just get changed, we’re meeting in my room in ten.” She leaves the room, closing the door behind her with a barely audible ‘click’. And then Richie’s alone again. 

He sighs, his overly fake smile dropping from his lips. 

Right, time to get changed. 

He moves across the medium sized room, slow and languidly, to get to his duffle bag full of clothes and things. Begrudgingly he picks out the first shirt he finds - an old t-shirt with the owl from Tootsie-pops. He thinks this is one his mom sent him last year. She’s like that - forgets he exists until his birthday comes around, sends him a ‘care’ package, then he doesn’t hear from her until Christmas, and rinse and repeat. 

Richie rolls his eyes, he has half a mind to toss the ugly shirt in the garbage but… at least his mom sends him stuff, right? His mind flickers to Bev, who doesn’t talk to her father either. She doesn’t talk about him - never has mentioned a word about the dude, Richie doesn’t mind it, it’s not like he wants to talk about his mommy issues either. It was a nice truce, one thing they agreed on for certain. 

He strips his tattered old shirt off, pulling on the Tootsie-pop one instead and swapping out his old jeans with another pair of old jeans, these ones, however, are lacking scrapes and tears made by angry werewolves, so good enough.

On his way out, he spots Eddie’s backpack. He hesitates, casting a look towards the closed door before taking a few strides - he feels guilty unzipping the bag, like any second now Eddie will burst through the door screaming colorful curses at him for daring to touch his things - but the room is silent, of course. And Eddie is gone. 

The clothes inside are neatly folded, of course. Shirts are folded into compact and neat rectangles, Richie’s fingers brush over his things, feeling the soft fabric. Then he stops, his eyes flickering to a familiar red hoodie. Casting a look to the door behind him, making sure it’s still shut, he grabs the hoodie, gently pulling it out so as to not disturb his other well organized things. 

He holds it in front of him, his heart pounding in his ears before he swallows hard, making the rash decision to pull it over his arms. It’s a snug fit, but thankfully it’s not too small on him - it was always large on Eddie anyways. 

It’s warm and smells like fresh, floral laundry detergent - because of course it does, Richie snorts. 

His heart is still pounding loudly, part of him feels more at ease, like maybe Eddie was still here. The other part felt shame - God, what would Eddie do if he found out Richie was being all creepy and going through his shit? He’d be so fucking disturbed, that’s what. Richie could picture him standing there, mouth twisted into his familiar, angry snarl - brows turned down in disgust - 

Richie shook his head, dispelling those thoughts. Eddie may be the son of Hades, but he wasn’t cruel. 

And he always wasn’t there. 

Richie rezips the bag, tossing it on his own bed because it was closest to the door, near his own travel backpack, and he leaves the room. 

Beverly doesn’t even blink at the sweater - thank God. She smiles at him, leaning away from the wall she stood against while she was waiting on him. “Let’s go,” she says, leading them a couple of doors down to where her room was. 

Everyone else was already situated in the room by the time they arrived - Stan leaning against the far wall, he looks at Richie for a moment, and Richie looks back. Stan’s mouth is thinned, pursed together, his brows drawn down like he wants to say something, but then he looks away, instead he stares down at the floor. 

Ben and Mike are sitting on the edge of the bed, Ben looks over at Richie and Bev as they enter, eyes darting to Bev - Richie can see a small smile on her lips out of the corner of his eyes, one that Ben shyly returns. Richie averts his gaze, feeling a bit like a weird voyeur.

Then there was Bill, standing with his arms crossed, looking out the window and onto the stormy streets of upper Manhattan. 

If Richie ever doubted that Bill was indeed the son of the most powerful God, well, let’s just say the scowl on his face erased any of those thoughts. Richie had never met Zues - or Jupiter, whatever the fuck he was supposed to be, but Richie couldn’t help but think that Bill would probably be the spitting image of him right then - his brows turned down in a furious scowl, blue eyes as cloudy and stormy as the weather outside. 

It was kind of fucking terrifying, if you asked him. 

Bill must have heard them come in, as he turns away from the window. Richie instinctively averts his gaze to the carpet, maybe he’s unwilling to meet Bill’s eyes because he’s a pussy - Bill looked especially scary after all, right now. Or maybe it was the guilt eating away at him. For as bad as Richie felt right now, Bill must be feeling worse - it was his brother after all, and he’d known Eddie for a hell of a lot longer than Richie had, after all. Nevertheless, Richie felt a lot more comfortable copying Stan right now.

“We need to get them back.” Bill says, his voice unnaturally loud in the too-quiet room, the only other noise being the heavy pitter-patter of rain outside. 

“We don’t know where they are,” Beverly says evenly - leave it to her to not be intimidated by the son of Jupiter, she was the only daughter of Hera, after all. 

“Then we need to find them.” Bill replies, his voice raising an octave. Richie glances at Bev, who’s eyes narrow at his tone, Bill takes a breath and Richie can see his shoulders rise and fall heavily. “We need to find them, Bev. Georgie’s only -” His voice cracks a bit, “he’s o-only h-hu-human. A-a-and Eddie-” he cuts himself off, sucking in another large breath. Richie winces at the stutter.

“I know,” she says softly, putting a hand on Bill’s tense shoulders. “And we will - we just need a plan, first. We can’t find them if we don’t have any clues.”

“You don’t think they were taken back to the school, do you?” Mike pipes in, “That’s where the storm originated from too, right?” Beverly puts a thumb to her lips in thought. 

“Maybe, but…” she trailers off, her gaze turning to the window. “Wouldn’t that be too easy?” 

“If it’s our only lead right now, maybe we should take it?” Ben asks. 

“If we get side tracked too far in the wrong direction we might be too late.” Beverly says, and another silence falls over the room. She was right, of course. Not to mention that the storm was so intense over there that they’d have a hard time making it through - demigods or not. 

“I think I know where we should go.” Stan’s voice cuts through the silence like a knife. He’s looking up now, gray eyes hard and determined, looking at Bill. 

Bill blinks, like even he’s caught off guard. “W-where?” He stutters out, after a moment.

“In the library I read about something that could help us, I think it’s called the ‘Cave of Desires’.”

Richie snorts, “kinky.” Stanly casts him an annoyed glare.

Bill takes a step forward towards stands, eyes so full of hope it makes Richie nervous. “What is that? Ho-how will it h-help us find t-them?”

Stan pulls out a book, it’s old looking and leather bound, but otherwise nondescript. “I found this at the library - or, it found me, I guess.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Richie blurts out mostly on accident, he didn’t mean to sound as antagonizing as he did, but seriously - an old book? Stan looks away from Bill and at Richie instead, 

“It fell off of the shelves, it - or someone - wanted me to find it.” His voice is unwavering as he stares down Richie, who only scoffs in response. Stan continues, “it lists a bunch of different stuff, I mean - every time I open it, it shows me something else. The second time I opened it, it showed me the Cave of Desires.”

“What exactly is that?” Mike asks curiously, 

“The book says it’s a place that can grant the thing you desire most - if you’re worthy.” Stan explains, Richie rolls his eyes dramatically - he can’t believe Stan’s buying into it. The room either doesn’t see the eye roll or decidedly ignores him.

“Does i-it say where t-the cave is?” Bill asks, 

“That parts hard, it doesn’t give a location, but it does have a picture-” Richie can’t help but chuckle mirthlessly. Stan’s gray eyes cut to Richie, “what?” Richie shrugs, “if you have something to say Richie, you should say it.” 

“Fine. Why are we wasting our time with a fairy tale?” Richie asks the room, Ben looks down at his hands and Bev crosses her arms. “Have any of you actually heard of this place before? I mean, c’mon! ‘Cave of Desires’? What kind of Aladdin bullshit is that!” Richie exclaims with a dry laugh, throwing his arms in the air. 

“Richie-” Bev starts, 

“W-we need to think a-about everything.” Bill says, cutting Beverly off. “Every o-option,”

“Seriously?” Richie asks Bill, “you want to waste time chasing some story about some stupid cave when Eddie is out there-”

“Y-you don’t think I care about Eh-Eh-E-” Bill cuts himself off, snapping his eyes closed and sucking in a harsh breath, “fuck!” He curses, behind him the windows flash white with lightning, the walls and floor shake and tremble with a sickening boom of thunder. The lights flicker on and off a few times, before slowly turning a dim and ugly shade of yellow-y orange. 

Richie can hear Ben take a startled gasp, Mike, who’s next to him on the bed, puts a startled hand on his shoulder, steadying the other boy. Beverly stumbles, but she’s quick to catch herself, her green eyes wide looking at Bill. Richie pushes himself flat against the wall, he can hear his heart beat frantically in his ears, and he thinks; “this is it, I finally pissed off someone so powerful that they’re going to smite me.” He can’t help but wonder whether or not that was all Bill, or maybe his father, watching over his son from wherever the fuck the Roman Gods watched from. Either way it was terrifying enough for Richie to get the picture. 

Bill’s head is bowed, the room is deafeningly quiet for a tense minute, all eyes are on Bill. Beverly is the first one to move again, she takes a step forward - it’s confident, not hesitant or scared, like she knows that Bill wont (or can’t) hurt her. “Bill?” She asks, her voice barely above a whisper. 

Bill sucks in another breath, “I’m sorry, I… I didn’t mean to do that.” He looks up, to Beverly first, she’s the closest, merely a step away from him. Even though he’s not looking at him, Richie can see the tears that fill Bill’s red rimmed eyes, the sad quiver of his bottom lip. 

“Aw - come here,” Beverly opens her arms wide, and Bill takes a step forward, closing the distance as Beverly wraps her arms around his chest. The tension drops from his shoulders immediately as he wraps his arms around her shoulders, practically burying his face into her shoulder. “It’s okay,” she says, rubbing his back. 

Richie sagged against the wall, utterly defeated. Why was he being an asshole to the guy who lost his brother and his friend? Because he was a dickhead, that’s why. He couldn’t keep his mouth closed for more than five minutes, and it always fucked him over - he always fucked himself over. His mind flickers to Ben, who he blew up at just a day before, and to Eddie - who he was a dick too, because Richie had his head so far up his own ass he couldn’t even look at him without his palms getting sweaty, and his heart skipping a beat. 

“It’s okay, man.” Mike says, standing from his spot on the bed, clapping a hand gently on Bill’s shoulder. “You’re going through a lot right now, we get it.” 

“Thanks, Mike.” Bill says, pulling away from Beverly with a smile that doesn’t quite meet his dull blue eyes. 

Richie swallows hard, trying to ignore the tightness of his throat. “Bill -” He starts, Bill looks at him but he doesn’t look angry, not like he should. But there’s a look of determination on his fair features. 

“No, you’re right, Richie.” Richie’s mouth opens and closes a few times, like a guppy - speechless. 

“Um - you wanna run that by me again, Big Bill?” He asks with a shaky laugh, internally cringing at how fake it sounds, even to himself. 

“We can’t just go out on a-a whim, Georgie and Eh-Eddie are too important.” He sounds so sure of himself, now, his chin tilted upwards, the water gone from his eyes. Bill looks at Stan, who perks up at the attention, a bit. “But this isn’t j-just a guess. I trust Stan. A-a-and I think, if he’s confident that - that it’s a hint from the Gods, then w-we should do it.” Richie can see Stan turn a shocking shade a pink, his whole body shrinks a bit, further into the corner of the wall - for whatever reason, Stan can’t bring himself to look at Bill.

Is this what Zeus was like with the other Gods? As confident as Bill looks, Richie knows that if he really, truly objected that Bill would bend, and they’d find another option. It was laughable to imagine the great ruler of the Gods wanting to make sure everyone was on the same page before proceeding. Richie knew the stories of just how much an asshole the Great King could be. So maybe it was a sign that Bill wasn’t the same as his dictator-like dad. Maybe he was something better. 

Bill’s still looking at him, waiting for an answer. Richie nods once, “yeah - I get it. Let’s go find this fucking cave then. 

Bill’s shoulders sag in relief, he smiles and the room is suddenly lighter, the earlier tension dissolved along with the argument. 

“Okay.” Bill says. 

They spent the next 25 minutes trying to figure out how to find the place. Stan’s dumb, magic book wouldn’t open to the correct page (he swore up and down that he wasn’t making it up, that the cave was real - Richie somehow believed him, maybe it was the panic in Stan’s voice or the nervous shake of his hands as he tried to convince the rest of the group). The book was inconveniently very un-Harry Potter like. 

Really, they should’ve been able to figure out how to work one damn book! 

Richie sighed, running a frustrated hand through his tangled hair. They were brainstorming - and that meant googling, as if the answer to the dumb book puzzle would be somewhere in the Greek Mythology wikipedia. 

Richie thought, for not the first time since this whole mess started - what would his dad do if he were in this situation? It was an easier question asked than answered, Richie thought with a scoff. His dad was a God, obviously - 

“Wait.” Richie says out loud, interrupting Bev who was currently arguing with Stan about something, Richie didn’t care enough to actually listen. 

“What?” Bev asked, perking up with interest. 

“Mike, give me the keys to your car.” Richie holds out a palm, Mike makes a face.

“What? No way, man.” Mike says, Richie rolls his eyes. 

“C’mon, dude - every minute we spend here is a minute wasted, we need to go!” Richie thought it was a pretty compelling argument, but Mike didn’t look convinced. 

“Rich, I’ve seen you drive, there’s no way I’m letting you drive my car.” Mike said, slowly and evenly. 

“Mike - “ Richie started with a whine, Mike held his hands up. 

“Nope. No way, man - if my car gets wrecked my dad would be pissed -”

“Your dad is like the chillest dude ever, he wouldn’t even get a little mad, and you know it!” 

Mike narrowed his eyes, “you’re not denying that you’d wreck my car is all I’m hearing.” Richie scoffs, putting frustrated hands on his hips. Mike sighs, “what’s your idea? Just tell me, and I’ll drive-” 

“It has to be me.” Richie interrupts, 

“Why?”

Richie fights the urge to roll his eyes, he didn’t want to have to explain it - but from the hard look in Mike’s eyes, he didn’t think he had a choice. “Well, okay - listen. My dad? The God of theives, athletes, trade -”

“We know all of this, Rich - “

“And travel and roads.” Richie finishes, watching as Mike’s eyebrow ticks up in interest, his eyes now swimming with a new understanding. “I have a feeling that if we just pick a direction, and I drive - we’ll be able to find this stupid cave.” Richie finishes with an accomplished smile. 

The room is silent for a moment as everyone takes in the idea. 

“I think that could work,” Bev says, her lips quirked into a smirk. Beside her, Bill nods, looking at Richie. 

“Let’s do it.” He says, and Richie suppresses the grin threatening to grow on his face. 

They all look to Mike, waiting for his answer. He looks at them all for a second before sighing, big and loud, his head slumping between his shoulders. “Fine.” Richie nearly fist pumps in celebration, “but!” He points a finger at Richie, his eyes serious. “I’m riding shotgun,”

“Well, yeah - “

“I’m not done. I’m riding shotgun, and if you even get a scratch on her, you’re paying for everything.” 

“It’s a deal.” They shake on it. 

The first thing that he remembers is the violent need to run, to escape to - go, get out of there - he jerks awake with a startled gasp, his eyes fluttering open. Then there’s pain - searing and inscrutable, it steals a pained breathy groan from Eddie as he stills himself, careful not to move again, lest he cause himself more unnecessary pain. 

It takes a moment, but it does come to him - what happened. Henry Bowers, and how he got his ass kicked into the next millenia - how Bowers snapped his arm like he was snapping a twig. Eddie sucks in another breath at the memory, at least he was alive - he wasn’t dead yet - or, could he even die? His dad never made that clear. Whatever the case was, he was here - injured, but he could work with that. Right?

He just needed to assess his injuries, see what he was working with - Eddie inhales again, trying to hype himself up. He was probably making a big deal out of nothing, just working himself up like he always did - it was fine. 

He looks down, his right arm is propped up on his legs - thankfully, he was already sitting up, leaning against some wall in whatever makeshift cell he’d been thrown into. It was dark in here, his eyes needed a few moments to adjust and - 

“Oh my fucking God.” Eddie practically screeches, he can’t help himself - Eddie could almost see the bone - his own bone, what the fuck - pushing at his skin. He retches, reaching up with his other, fully intact hand, he covers his mouth and he looks away, unwilling to look at his unnatural arm. “Nope, fuck that.” 

“Eddie?” A voice echoes, and Eddie tenses, his attention diverted from his arm momentarily. He looks across from his, eyes wide, his demigod instincts tell him to run, to get the hell out of there, but a quick look around the room he sees that running would be impossible, nevermind his broken arm. He really was in some sort of cell, and he shared a wall made from metal lattice work with, 

“George?” His voice comes out croaky and dry, Eddie notices with a grimace. 

It is indeed George who’s on the other side of the shared wall, much to Eddie’s relief the kid looks to be unharmed, all things considered. “Eddie, you’re awake!” He grins, and it’s so bright Eddie can’t help but smile back, through the persistent pain. George, ever so perceptive (just like his big brother, Eddie thinks, fondly) frowns. “Your arm…”

He doesn’t want to panic him, they’re already stuck in a shitty situation, and George was mortal and Eddie, he wasn’t. God, what would Richie do if he was in this situation? Well - he probably would’ve gotten away from Bowers, in the first place. He was fast and experienced, where Eddie - he just wasn’t. But, if he was here, Eddie knew he’d try to keep a brave face for George. That was a thing, right? Never show your fear in front of kids, that sounded right. 

Eddie chuckles, wincing at how painful it sounded. “This?” He nods down to his unmoving arm on his lap, “it’s no big deal.” George looks at him in disbelief, his frown twisting. “Really! It’s like, I can’t even feel it, George.” 

“Right,” George says, sounding thoroughly unconvinced. 

“Do you know where we are?” Eddie asks, gently craning his head to look around the cell, careful not to jostle his arm. 

“I think we’re in the monsters secret lair.” George says so nonchalantly it almost makes him laugh for real. 

“You’re okay, right?” Eddie asks, after a moment. 

“Yeah, I’m fine - they didn’t really hurt me or anything. But, you…”

“Don’t worry about me, George. I’m going to get us out of here, okay?” George’s eyes light up, 

“How?” He asks, Eddie suspected that if he had a tail, it would be wagging. “I saw you do your shadow teleportation! Is it going to be that?” 

Eddie was too drained to attempt anything like that, he gave everything he had and more in that fight with Bowers, and he lost hard. There was no way he would be able to summon a portal, not with the lights shining down on him, making sure there wasn’t a single shadow in sight - and even if there were, Eddie was sure he didn’t have the strength to make one. “No - something better.” He remembers the single pomegranate seed in his pocket, that was going to be their - well, George’s way out. 

Before Eddie can tell his plan to George, there’s a loud creaking noise, like the sound of an old, noisy door opening. Eddie tenses up, snapping his mouth shut, hopefully whoever’s there didn’t overhear anything. 

The footsteps are heavy and lackadaisical, Eddie doesn’t even have to guess who it is, he just knows. A moment later Bowers comes into view from around the corner, Eddie instinctively pushes himself further against the wall, internally cringing at how pathetic he feels. But Bowers is smirking, any sign of injury that Eddie gave to him during their fight, gone. 

“Finally awake, I see.” He says, stopping in front of Eddie’s cell. Eddie can see George isn’t afraid of the demigod, he’s still on his feet in his own cell, his fingers digging into the latticed cell bars, glaring daggers at Henry. “How’s the arm, pipsqueek?” Eddie fights against the flinch - the memory of Henry’s fingers digging against the bruised flesh of his arm, gripping tighter, and tighter until it snaps - 

“Leave him alone!” George yells, dragging Eddie out of the memory. Henry’s eyes move from Eddie to George, who glares so ferociously it’s impressive. 

Henry laughs, long and hard, he looks back at Eddie, but points a lazy finger at George. “You’re letting this kid protect you, death boy?” He scoffs, “your father must be real proud of you, huh.” Eddie grits his teeth. “Maybe that’s why he couldn’t be bothered to lift a finger to help you.” He squats down til he’s eye to eye with Eddie. Eddie’s scared, and he’s trapped - he can hear an echo of his mother's voice, begging him not to go, that it was too dangerous out there for him, he was too weak - and that was true, wasn’t it? He wasn’t strong enough to protect anyone. “Even your friends abandoned you, pathetic -”

No. They didn’t, if Eddie was sure of one thing, it was that. They never would’ve left him if they had any other option, Eddie knew that. And he wasn’t going to let this asshole get to him, not about the only people who actually seemed to care about him. “Can’t be more pathetic than that shitty mullet you got going on, huh?” Eddie says with a grin of his own, that’s what Richie would do, never let them get in your head, shake it off with a shit eating grin - Eddie could do that. 

The smirk drops from Henry’s face so fast Eddie can’t help but snort out a laugh. Henry stands up and unlocks the door to his cell, stepping in. 

Don’t let him see you afraid, don’t let him see you afraid - “thought those things went out of style two decades ago, dickhe-” Eddie’s cut off by Henry’s boot slamming into his head, the force knocks him onto his back, he sees stars, the pain from the blow mixed with his arm being thrown to the ground along with the rest of him too much - he feels a bout of nausea, the bright lights beating down on him. He can vaguely hear George yelling something, but Eddie can’t hear much more than a high pitched ringing in his ear. 

He gasps a few times, trying to keep any groan of pain in, Bowers clearly wants a reaction and Eddie doesn’t want to give him a bigger one than he has to. Then there’s a heavy pressure on his chest, pushing down and making it harder for Eddie to breath without struggling. He manages to open his eyes and sees Henry’s steel toed boot on his chest. “Still full of big talk, huh? Well, you wont be talking so much when the boss finally gets here.” Henry’s eyes are narrowed into slits, but there’s still a manic look to them. He grins wide, baring his teeth. 

“What do you want with us?” Eddie struggles to get out, much to Henry’s apparent sadistic pleasure. 

Henry grins wider as he pushes down harder, Eddie groans, his one good hand instinctively grabbing the side of his boot, trying in vain to alleviate some of the pressure. “Well, just between you and me, Deathbreath - it’s more of the kid we want, you see.” Eddie glances over at George who’s gripping the metal so hard his knuckles are turning white. “Boss man has beef with his dad, get it?” 

“His…? But, but he’s mortal-” 

Henry barks out a laugh, loud and sharp, throwing his head back. “You are all a bunch of dumbasses, aren’t you? Not even B-b-big B-B-Bill knew?” He looks at Eddie like Eddie has an answer - he doesn’t of course, because he has no idea what he’s going on about. “Well that just adds to the fun, I guess. And you,” he pushes down harder. “Your daddy refused to help - you’re calaterol. And we’re gonna have a fun time with you.” 

He pushes one final time before removing his foot, Eddie breathes in a large breath, coughing despite himself. He hears the door click shut behind Bowers, who locks it back up. Eddie doesn’t look at him as he retreats, whistling an annoyingly jaunty toon as he exits. 

Finally, he was gone. 

“Eddie? Eddie, are you okay?” George asks. 

The pain was fading to a dull ache, still there but less present than before and he’d also managed to catch his breath. “Yeah, yeah I’m okay.” Probably. He was still on his back, and he’d have to move to sit up, but that could wait a minute. Eddie didn’t know if he could handle another bout of pain so soon. “Do you know what he was talking about, George?” Eddie asks after a moment. He can see George shake his head out of the corner of his eye.

“No, I mean. I don’t really know my dad? It was me, Bill and my mom for a long time, until Bill decided to go to Camp Jupiter and he took me with him - do you think he was telling the truth?” His voice is quiet - like he’s afraid to jinx himself. It was no secret to Eddie that George had always been a bit jealous when it came to Bill’s demigod status - not jealous in a mean way, but he always seemed like he would kill to be just like his older brother. 

“I dunno, George. Guys like him lie for fun, but do you remember anything about your dad?” Eddie asks, George looks down at the stone floor, thoughtful. 

“No, not really.” George’s face was scrunched up, like he was trying hard to remember anything about his dad. 

“Have you met him?” George perks up,

“I… think so, once” He was pensive, his eyes focused on the concrete floor, but Eddie could tell he wasn’t actually looking at the ground, his mind a million miles away. “There was a man a few years ago.” George says after a moment of thought, “Billy and me were at the mall for my 8th birthday, my mom couldn’t make it, I think she wasn’t feeling very good.”

“Okay,” Eddie says, encouraging George. 

“We were in the food court, I was saving us a seat while he was getting us some burgers. Then, this guy sat down - he was kinda big and a little scary looking.” 

“Why’s that, George?” Eddie asks him with a raised brow. 

George narrowed his eyes as he thought, “well, he had a huge beard - like the biggest I’ve ever seen!” He mimes out the beard, putting his hands halfway down his chest. 

Eddie chuckled softly, then winced at the pressure of his ribs. 

George stops, sending a concerned look at Eddie through the metal bars that kept them apart. “Does it hurt?” 

Eddie gently shakes his head, “no, I’m fine. Keep talking - what about the man with the beard?”

George didn’t look too convinced, but he didn’t argue. “So he sat down, but even though he was scary looking, I wasn’t actually scared, y’know? So he sat there, and he just said ‘happy birthday’ then I saw Billy coming over, and when I looked back he was gone. Bill said he never saw him, but I dunno… sometimes you just know, you know?” George said with an easy smile, and Eddie smiled back

Eddie manages to pull himself up, starting by propping himself up on his good elbow - cringing and stopping when his broken arm moves, it’s so fucking painful, but he refuses to look at it again, afraid that he really might throw up this time. So it’s slow and steady, it takes a good five minutes or so, with all his pausing - but he does it with George’s words of encouragement. 

He debates on standing up or not, but ultimately decides against it. He doesn’t have a sling, and Eddie doesn’t want to imagine how painful his arm would be, dangling there, he shudders at the thought. So he settles on propping his arm back onto his lap, and dragging himself across the stone. It’s slow, but he gets there - thankfully the cells are fairly small, definitely less than ten by ten. 

By the end of it, he’s practically out of breath. He leans against the metal partition that divides their cells, trying not to huff and puff too much. It doesn’t help that the lights beat down on him, heavy and bright, he’s definitely sweating. 

“You did it, Eddie.” George says with a smile - and Eddie’s helpless but to smile back, the kids grin is so contagious. 

“Thanks George - now, we might not have a lot of time.” Eddie says, he looks down the hall and the door is still closed, thankfully. “Persephone gave me a gift when I was in the Underworld.” George perks up at the mention of Persephone, “I only have two left, one for me and one for you.” He pulls out the single seed - it didn’t feel good, lying to George. His blue eyes were so full of trust, but Eddie needed to get him out of there before whoever Bowers worked for arrived. Eddie swallowed hard at the thought of whatever the creature wanted to do to George - something to do with revenge. Eddie might be a coward, but he’d never let Bill’s little brother get hurt, he wouldn't know how to look Bill in the eyes. 

George looks at the seed for a moment, then back at Eddie, “what does it do?” 

“As soon as you swallow it, it takes you right to Persephone’s garden. Sick, right?” Eddie almost chuckles at George’s enthusiastic nodding. Eddie gently pushes his palm forward, careful not to drop the only thing that could save him. “Here, take it.” George does as he’s told, carefully mirroring Eddie with his slow movements. “You’ll eat yours first, then I’ll eat mine right after, okay?” 

“Okay,” George says, biting his lip nervously. He looks back up at Eddie, hesitantly. “Persephone’s nice… right?” 

Eddie smiles, “the nicest.” It feels good to not lie about that, at least. 

“Okay, I mean - I thought she would be, ‘cause that’s what all the stories said, but I dunno, you never know, right? I mean, she’s technically the Queen of the Underworld! The Underworld, so I thought that maybe she’d be -”

“George.” George stops his rambling, cut off by Eddie. “We don’t have a lot of time,” 

George nods, “right, sorry. I’ll see you in a minute?” 

“Yeah,” Eddie says after a moment. “I’ll be right after you George - but one more thing. And this is serious, okay?” George nods as Eddie eyes him, “whatever you do, don’t mention who your dad is, got it?” George looks at him, brows furrowed. “Don’t mention Bill, either - just to be safe.” Sure, Eddie trusted Persephone - but, he didn’t know his own father that well, and his feud with Zeus had lasted thousands of years, not to mention George was going to be down there all by himself. 

“Oh… kay. Sure.” He says after a moment, his brow scrunched up like he didn’t really know what Eddie was talking about. 

“Alright, now bottoms up.” Eddie tells George, who raises his hand to his mouth, putting the seed in his mouth, Eddie can see his throat work as he swallows - and then he’s gone with a whoosh of warm air. Eddie sags against the cell, George was safe. He was going to be fine with Persephone - She’d taken care of him, George would be fine. 

But Eddie wasn’t so sure he would be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize so much for the lateness on this! School got busy, and then the pandemic and yeah. It's been crazy, but I hope you all are still sticking with the story and hopefully things brings you joy during these insane times! 
> 
> Please leave a comment/kudos! They make my day and I love every single one of them :) 
> 
> Until next time!


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